Nepal-China flood survivors reach safe areas as families await news of nearly 3,000 missing

The combined toll in Nepal and Tibet rose to 633 dead and nearly 3,000 people missing on Saturday. NUWAKOT, Nepal (AP) — Most arrive with nothing except the clothes they are wearing.As rescue efforts in communities buried by catastrophic flash floods along the border between Nepal and China entered their fourth day Saturday, authorities continued finding survivors and transporting them to safety. At relief centers, as some arrive, families wait anxiously for news of their loved ones as the death toll and the number of people unaccounted for continued to rise.After Nepali authorities updated their figures Saturday, the combined toll in Nepal and Tibet rose to 633 dead and nearly 3,000 people missing.

Chinese authorities have reported seven deaths and more than 550 missing.In Nuwakot, one of the Nepali districts devastated by the floods, helicopters resumed operations before noon Saturday after poor weather temporarily hampered aerial rescue activities.Some helicopters were loaded with boxes and bags of aid, including clothes, instant noodles, crackers and rice. Others returned from the flood-hit areas carrying survivors.An older man was carefully helped off one helicopter, while a soldier carried an older woman on his back to a medical tent. There, medics checked her blood pressure, breathing and heartbeat, as well as her teeth and gums.About a dozen people emerged from another helicopter.

Soldiers carried several babies who had been evacuated.The evacuees had been brought from the nearby community of Trishuli.Villagers return to devastated homesAs people were still leaving Trishuli, some village residents were returning to see what could be salvaged from their decimated homes.One boy walked out of the village carrying muddy sandals from his house. Another woman, Shoba Shretha, returned to find her dog, Sweetie, who she was forced to leave behind when the floods came. Shretha sat on the ground petting her and feeding her water from a bottle.At some point, relief coordinators cleared villagers, reporters and volunteers from the entrance to Trishuli, as excavation equipment drove into the flooded village to dig.Families begin to lose hopeIn Kathmandu, Nepal’s capital, relatives and friends gathered outside the main government hospital from early morning, desperately searching for news of missing loved ones.Many shuffled between the help desk and the hospital notice board, clutching photographs and scanning injured patients’ lists in the hope of finding them…