Up To 1,000 Hikers Stranded by Blizzard On/Near Mount Everest, Most Of Them Rescued; Lower Elevation Rain Fatal In Nepal

Hundreds of hikers being rescued from a blizzard near
Mount Everest after the unseasonable storm. 

About 1,000 hikers were caught in a blizzard Friday and Saturday up on Mount Everest, or near it as unseasonable weather took hold. 

Hiking in the region is most popular this time of year because the wet monsoon season is usually over and October skies are usually clear in the region. 

Temperatures are also usually mild in the region this time of year. And the weekend coincided with a local holiday in which tens of thousands of people traveled to the mountains. 

Most of the hikers weren't the type seeking to reach the top of the world's highest mountain, but they were pretty far up there. The stranded hikers were at an elevation of around 16,000 feet above sea level. Mount Everest is about 29.000 feet tall. 

USA Today reported that officials recruited hundreds of local villagers and rescue teams to help remove snow blocking access to the area the hikers were trapped.

As NBC describes it:

"'About one-third into the trek, it began to rain and the rain kept getting heavier,' Chen Geshuang, a 28-year-old astrophotographer who began climbing Saturday afternoon but decided to retreat Sunday, he told NBC in an online video interview.

'Later, it turned into sleet, and eventually a full-on blizzard.' 

Overnight Saturday the snow intensified, with almost continuous lightning. Hikers had to keep shoveling snow out of their tents, and by Saturday morning, much of the area was under three feet of snow. 

"It was the most extreme weather I've ever faced in all my hiking experiences, without question," said Dong Schuchang, a Chinese trekker who was caught in the storm. He said the blizzard a "violent convective snowstorm."

 As of today, it looks like most if not all the hikers are out of the danger zone. Some have been treated for hypothermia but so far, no deaths have been reported. 

However, at lower elevations, the heavy snow was of course heavy rain. That rain set off a deadly flood in Nepal. 

At least 44 people died there in floods, landslides and lightning strikes, according to the Associated Press. 

The Nepalese government on Saturday grounded all domestic flights because of the bad weather, but flights resumed Sunday. Major highways connecting the Nepal capital Kathmandu were closed by landslides, but some of them have since reopened.   

The entire region affected by the storms is popular with tourists, but the bad weather illustrates how chaotic things can get when the weather doesn't behave the way it usually does.