Racing against the darkness, rescuers in California on Saturday saved a man who had become stranded on a ledge perched atop a soaring peak on the Sierra Nevada.

A visit near the border with Tibet laid bare the effects of a swollen river’s furious speed. Miles of devastation were left behind in a flash flood that killed more than 300.

Survivors described the terrifying speed and power of the “boulders, sand and thick sludge” that killed hundreds and wiped out villages on the border between Nepal and Tibet.

© Sabrina Dangol/Reuters

An ice avalanche that started high in the Himalayas tumbled thousands of feet, releasing vast amounts of energy that pulverized the ice into a significant volume of flood water.

© Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters