91-year-old woman survives Nepal flash flood after keeping head above water for hours; image goes viral

KATHMANDU: A photograph of 91-year-old Guna Maya Bohara, who miraculously survived the devastating flash floods in Nepal, has caught widespread attention on social media. The heartbreaking image shows the elderly woman, covered in mud from head to toe, sitting on the mechanical arm of a JCB during the rescue operation.

Bohara was in a room on the ground floor when the flash flood hit. She already had a disability affecting her legs. As floodwaters rose and submerged her entire body, she managed to keep her head above the water and held on for hours. Rescuers found her two to three hours later, with her body completely covered in mud. Despite the ordeal, she had managed to survive.

Bohara was a resident of the Senior Citizens Welfare Foundation at Devighat in Nuwakot. Seven elderly residents of the facility died in the flash flood. Those who survived, including Bohara, were later moved to a temporary shelter in Kathmandu. The facility had been the place the elderly residents had chosen to spend the final years of their lives. Now, after losing their home to the floods, the survivors are trying to rebuild their lives in a new place.

One of the elderly survivors said they had received no proper warning about the approaching flood.

“We saw the roof of the building shaking around breakfast time. We ran towards a higher place, but around seven people could not escape,” the survivor said.

Local residents reached the old-age home nearly two hours after the flood struck. By then, the floodwaters had receded, but the entire area was covered in thick mud.

Rescue workers initially took the surviving elderly residents to a nearby Ayurvedic hospital. They were later airlifted to Kathmandu, where arrangements have been made for food, clothing and medical care at a temporary shelter. Volunteers said the health condition of the surviving elderly residents is satisfactory.