A remote Himalayan village in Solukhumbu has been hit by an unusual flow of mud and sludge after three days of rain, damaging homes and destroying farmland.

Tarngga village, a small settlement northwest of Namche Bazaar in the Khumbu region, about an hour’s walk from Thame towards the Rijola Pass, witnessed the phenomenon on Friday. The village, at an altitude of about 4,200 metres, has not experienced anything similar in living memory.

Mud and sludge began flowing down from higher ground at about 4pm on Friday and again at 11pm, according to residents.

Rain began on Wednesday and continued until about 8am on Saturday, covering the village and surrounding mountains.

Tarngga has about 30 households, although some residents are away for work. About 15 households remain in the village, where people farm potatoes and keep yaks and cattle. There is also a single teahouse.

“We are all safe. The mudslide damaged two houses, but it destroyed a lot of arable land,” said Sonam Jangbu Sherpa, a resident, speaking to the Everest Chronicle from Thame.

The cause remains unclear. Sherpa said there was no pond or glacial lake above the village that could have triggered such a flow.

“There is a huge plain pastureland, but we don’t know how it happened,” he said.

Residents said it was the first such incident in Tarngga. Sherpa compared it with the disaster that struck nearby Thame in August 2024, when a glacial lake outburst flood swept through the village.

The flood on August 16, 2024 destroyed about 25 buildings, including homes, hotels, a school and a health clinic, and displaced 135 people. No deaths were reported.

The latest rain has been brought by a low-pressure system that formed over the Bay of Bengal, bringing heavy rain to Nepal’s hills and snowfall in the mountains.

The weather has disrupted travel and dealt a further blow to the autumn tourism season. The authorities have warned against unnecessary travel, while several highways have been disrupted and night travel has been restricted in some areas.

The weather has been particularly disruptive to expeditions on Manaslu and Dhaulagiri, where heavy snowfall has forced climbers to abandon or postpone summit attempts.

Some climbers are still hoping to make a late attempt once the weather improves. But the task will be difficult: some base camps have been buried under as much as three feet of snow, meaning expedition teams may have to rebuild camps and fix climbing ropes again.

Summits could remain possible into the second week of October, but many climbers do not have enough time to wait.

the meteorogical department has warned of heavy rains and snowfall until September 27. The rains and snowfall will concentrate on western Nepal, in the areas where Manaslu, Dhaulagiri and Annapurna areas.

Many have already returned home, while others are staying in Kathmandu. Some remain stranded in Samagaun, either because travel routes out have been disrupted or because they are still considering another attempt on Manaslu.

“About 75 per cent of climbers have already given up, but only a few remain hopeful and want to give it another try,” said Pem Lakpa Sherpa, co-founder of AltiPro Adventure.

AltiPro is among a small number of expedition operators that have remained in Samagaun, waiting for conditions to improve. Most outfitters and their clients have already left the mountains and begun their journeys home.