The devastating flood in Nepal's Rasuwa district has put the spotlight back on a little-understood but increasingly lethal Himalayan hazard, rock-ice avalanches capable of triggering destructive floods far downstream, often without heavy rainfall as the immediate trigger, according to Gaurav Talwar's Times of India report.
Scientists at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) are investigating whether a rock-ice avalanche from high-altitude slopes triggered the August 26 flood.