Nepal after the floods: Which routes are open, how to trace travellers and who pays for disrupted trips?

New Delhi: Four days after the devastating flash floods along the Nepal-Tibet border, the biggest mistake for travellers would be to treat the whole of Nepal as either “safe” or “closed”. The destruction is most severe along the Rasuwa-Rasuwagadhi-Gyirong corridor , a key private route used by Indian Kailash Mansarovar pilgrims. Kathmandu’s international airport remains operational, other parts of Nepal continue to receive travellers, and people have been evacuated to India through southern routes. But conditions remain highly fluid. Nepal’s disaster authority issued a fresh warning on Sunday after the flow in the Bhote Koshi rose again, asking rescue teams and people in Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dhading and Chitwan to remain cautious. For anyone travelling in September, the question therefore has to be route-specific. Rasuwagadhi-Gyirong: Do not plan on this route The clearest answer concerns the Rasuwagadhi-Gyirong crossing. The August 26 flood destroyed the Friendship Bridge, badly damaged roads and devastated the Gyirong immigration area through which hundreds of Kailash pilgrims were travelling. Rescue teams reaching the site found the border infrastructure largely reduced to ruins. For practical purposes, travellers holding a Nepal-route Kailash booking should not assume that the normal Rasuwagadhi-Gyirong itinerary will operate unless their tour operator produces fresh written confirmation from the relevant Nepali and Chinese authorities. The official Kailash Mansarovar Yatra organised by India through Lipulekh Pass and Nathu La is different . Those routes do not pass through Nepal and were reported unaffected by the August 26 disaster. What about Tatopani-Kodari? The Tatopani-Kodari crossing is often mentioned as a possible alternative to Gyirong, but travellers should not simply reroute themselves there. The road to Tatopani reopened on August 24 after being blocked for around 40 days by an earlier landslide. Even then, local officials warned that the corridor would not operate smoothly until repairs around Liping were completed. After the latest flood, Nepal’s trekking industry asked authorities to consider alternative crossings including Tatopani, Korola and Hilsa for affected Kailash pilgrims. That is a request for official facilitation, not proof that every booked group can simply shift there. Chinese visas, Tibet permits, transport arrangements and group clearances are route-specific. For September Kailash travellers, an operator saying “we will use another border” is not enough. Ask for the exact crossing, current permit status and written confirmation that the Chinese side will accept the group . Kathmandu is accessible, but road travel remains unpredictable Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu remains operational, and international flights continue to operate. There is no blanket shutdown of international air access to Nepal. That does not mean every onward road journey is normal. The Prithvi Highway, which links Kathmandu with Pokhara, Chitwan and western Nepal, was completely blocked at Krishnabhir on Sunday morning after a section subsided because of erosion by the Trishuli. Police later said traffic on the Kathmandu-Muglin-Narayangadh section had resumed after flood authorities assessed the immediate risk. That reversal within hours illustrates the problem. A road shown as open in the morning can become unusable after another rise in water level or landslide. Travellers heading by road to Pokhara, Chitwan or other destinations should check the Nepal Department of Roads status immediately before departure rather than relying on an update from the previous day. Overland evacuation towards India has remained possible through some southern corridors. Maharashtra pilgrims, for example, have been moved out through Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, while the Sonauli border was being used as an exit route even as cargo traffic faced long delays. If a traveller cannot be contacted, do this first Families should not wait for social media lists to settle the status of a missing person. Names can be duplicated, transliterated differently or wrongly matched. Contact the Embassy of India in Kathmandu on +977 985 131 6807, +977 970 910 7500 or +977 981 032 6117 . All three numbers can also be reached on WhatsApp. The dedicated email is eoikathmandufloodsupport@gmail.com . Give the traveller’s full passport name, passport number if available, Indian mobile number, tour operator, group name, last known location and time, hotel, bus or vehicle details, and a recent photograph. Contact Nepal’s Tourist Police on 1144 , Nepal Police on 100 , or Tourist Police headquarters in Kathmandu on +977-9851289445 . Nepal’s National Emergency Operations Centre can be reached on the 1234 toll-free number . Ask the tour operator for the passenger manifest and the last independently verified checkpoint for the group, not simply a WhatsApp assurance that “everyone is safe”. If the Embassy asks the family to check victim-identification material, use only the official link provided through the Embassy. Do not repost graphic images or circulate unverified names. Should September travellers cancel? For a normal Kathmandu trip, the answer is not automatically . International flights are operating, and the disaster does not mean every tourist destination in Nepal has shut down. For trips involving long road journeys, the decision should be taken closer to departure because highways remain vulnerable. For a Kailash Mansarovar trip through Rasuwagadhi-Gyirong , the threshold should be much higher. Do not leave India merely on an operator’s verbal assurance that the route will reopen. Obtain a revised itinerary, border confirmation and permit position in writing. Travellers who bought flexible air tickets should also compare the cost of postponing now with the risk of cancelling later. Will the airline refund the money? If the airline cancels the flight , Indian passenger rules require it to offer an alternative flight or a refund, subject to the applicable circumstances. If the flight is still operating and the passenger decides not to travel because of concern about conditions elsewhere in Nepal, that becomes a voluntary cancellation . Normal fare rules then apply unless the airline separately announces a waiver. A functioning Kathmandu airport therefore does not automatically give a traveller booked for a damaged Kailash route a free airline cancellation. Tour package refunds are much more complicated There is no single refund rule covering private Kailash operators. Published contracts examined by NewsDrum show how widely the terms differ. Some operators define floods, landslides, border closures and government directions as force majeure and reserve the right to postpone or modify the Yatra. Refunds may depend on cancellation timelines and recoveries from airlines, hotels, Tibet authorities and ground handlers. The practical lesson is simple: do not accept either “full refund guaranteed” or “nothing is refundable” over the phone . Ask the operator to send the applicable contract clause and an itemised statement showing what has already been paid to third parties and what remains recoverable. If an Indian operator refuses to address a refund dispute, travellers can approach the National Consumer Helpline on 1915 or through its online and WhatsApp channels. Insurance may pay, but the date of purchase matters Travel insurance can be valuable in exactly this kind of disruption, but only if the relevant benefit is actually included. Indian travel policies commonly offer some combination of trip cancellation, trip interruption, delay and emergency evacuation , with floods and other natural catastrophes listed as covered events in several products. However, exclusions matter as much as the headline cover. Some policies exclude events that were already reasonably known or foreseeable when the journey was booked or the insurance purchased. That means a traveller who bought insurance before August 26 may have a stronger claim if the policy includes natural-disaster cancellation or interruption. Buying a policy now does not mean the existing Nepal flood will automatically be covered. An insurer may treat it as a known event. Emergency evacuation is another area where travellers should not assume reimbursement. Some policies require the evacuation to be arranged or authorised in advance by the insurer’s assistance company. Keep every document: the original itinerary, booking receipt, operator cancellation or postponement notice, airline communication, road-closure advisory, extra hotel and transport bills, medical records and any Embassy or police communication. The insurer generally needs to know what money the airline or tour operator has already refunded before calculating the remaining insured loss. For families waiting for news, however, refunds can wait. The priority remains establishing where the traveller was when the flood hit and getting that information into the official rescue system rather than relying on forwarded lists. Route information in this article reflects updates available up to the afternoon of August 30, 2026. Conditions can change within hours.