Nepal bet nearly everything on hydropower - the floods show why that's a problem - BBC News

More than 10% of Nepal's energy generation capacity was knocked out by last week's floods.

Image source, Didier MartiImage caption, Until eight years ago, Nepal used to struggle with lengthy power cuts

Almost 100% of Nepal's electricity comes from hydropower, and it produces so much it earns nearly $200m (£147m) each year exporting hydroelectricity to India and Bangladesh.

But the very glaciers and mountains giving Nepal this massive natural advantage are succumbing to global warming - and last Wednesday's deadly floods have laid bare the risks to the nation's hydropower ambitions.

More than 1,300 people were killed, while thousands more are still missing.

The floods, which destroyed entire villages near the border of Nepal and Tibet, severely damaged 12 hydropower plants in the Trishuli River basin and knocked out more than 10% of Nepal's total power generation capacity. Operators tell the BBC they don't yet know if any of these facilities can be brought back to operation.