Monsoon road closures in west Nepal: dated landslide and highway reports

Road closures in west Nepal come in two layers: landslides on the hill road itself, and washouts on the long highways from Kathmandu that feed it. This page keeps a dated record of both. Every closure below carries the date it was reported. The roads are described in Karnali Highway, and the buses that use them in buses and jeeps. The other planning pages are in the getting there hub.

The Nepal Tourism Board’s climate page gives the monsoon as June to September, with 80 percent of all the rain in Nepal falling in it¹. The dated reports below fall mostly inside that window.

Karnali Highway: reported closures

The Surkhet to Jumla road passes through Dailekh and Kalikot, and the press reported these closures on it^2,5:

What authorities told travellers

On 27 August 2025 authorities urged travellers, including tourists heading toward Jumla, to use alternative routes until repairs were completed⁵. In July 2026 the Jumla Road Division asked passengers and the public not to travel along the blocked section until a notice was issued, and its chief said the risk of landslides, floods and road erosion remained high during the monsoon⁶.

The July 2026 closure also stranded vehicles loaded with apples for three days on the Jumla-Kalikot-Dailekh section⁶. The same report quotes an apple trader who lost around Rs 1 million the year before to rain, floods and landslides⁶.

Long-distance services suspended

In its report of 26 September 2026 the Kathmandu Post said long-distance vehicles in Karnali had been suspended because of the risk of floods, landslides and road blockages⁴. Provincial police said services to Surkhet, Nepalgunj, Jumla, Humla, Kalikot, Dolpa, Salyan and Rukum had been stopped, while short-distance local services ran depending on road conditions⁴.

The roads from Kathmandu

The same rains cut the long highways from Kathmandu that feed the far west. On 26 September 2026 the Kathmandu Post reported that the Prithvi Highway, a major road connecting Kathmandu with western Nepal, was affected at several locations⁴. Other dated reports from September and October 2026:

On 25 September 2026 the Mugling to Narayanghat and Pokhara section was reported open, with the Bharatpur road office saying it was at lower risk⁴. For the long-haul bus and highway route see Kathmandu to the far west by road.

The August 2026 Rasuwa flood

On 26 August 2026 a glacially triggered mass movement in the Rasuwagadhi border region between Nepal and China rapidly became an extreme flash flood and debris flow, according to the World Bank’s Nepal Development Update¹¹. Over 55 km of the 82-km Rasuwa trade corridor was damaged¹¹. As of 26 September 2026 the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority had counted 1,453 dead and 5,285 missing, with 13,795 rescued, in figures the World Bank cites without a situation-report number¹¹.

After the disruption of 30 August 2026, authorities built a new track at Krishnabhir on the Prithvi Highway, and two-way traffic resumed on 17 September 2026 after 18 days¹¹. Permanent rehabilitation of the highway remained necessary because of continuing river erosion, landslides and road instability¹¹.

The authority’s situation report no. 16 of 17 September 2026 recorded two-way traffic at Krishnabhir from 06:00 that day¹⁰. Road subsidence at Shital Bazaar kept traffic to one lane, and the Tribhuvan Highway ran in one lane after landslides near Nagdhunga and Pataleban¹⁰. On the Bidur-Betrawati section, 9.2 km of 10 km were clear¹⁰.

The pattern

The Karnali Highway was reported blocked in August 2025, September 2025 and July 2026, and Karnali services were suspended in September 2026^2,3,6,4. The months to aim for are in best time to visit west Nepal.