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CNN International: 165 Killed, 1300+ Missing After Floods Hit Nepal Border; Former Israeli Hostage Describes Cruelty Of Hamas Captivity; Small Town Goes Big On Dolly Parton Annual Celebration. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired August 27, 2026 - 04:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[04:30:00]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Search operations ongoing at this hour for more than 1,300 people who are still missing, and the latest tally from officials in Nepal and China show that more than 700 foreign nationals are likely among those that are still unaccounted for. That includes at least 65 Americans. Now, the region could see more rain in the hours ahead, with showers and thunderstorms possible.

And as you heard at the top of the hour, of course, concerns of a secondary disaster is part of the warning that's being issued by Chinese state media. A lawmaker in Nepal says that rescuers have been relying on helicopters to try to reach survivors with most bridges and roads destroyed. This video from Wednesday showing the force of those flood waters, which pretty much broke apart and then carried away a bridge.

And Chinese emergency responders have arrived now at a specific border port, the one that is seen in that absolutely devastating video. CNN's Will Ripley has more and a warning that some of the videos that you're about to see are disturbing.

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WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A bridge snaps before being swept away as floodwater pours into Nepal's Trishuli River. Video shared on social media shows people running and riding away on motorbikes, realizing how little time they have to get to safety. At this Himalayan border crossing, people on the street could probably hear the danger coming before they could see it.

A recently rebuilt, earthquake-resistant building blocked their view of the monster wall of water until it was too late. From this view, you can see the floodwater's ferocious speed and massive scale. People desperately running for their lives have nowhere safe to go. In what appears to be about 20 seconds on video, the flood consumes everything in its path, a row of busses, a four-story building, a bridge, gone, buried beneath a black wall of water.

From the air, a helicopter pilot watches the disaster race through the valleys below, sweeping away homes, trees, and roads.

AMAN BUDATHOKI, HELICOPTER PILOT: The whole scenario-it was horrendous. It was uncanny. Anything like you've ever seen before.

RIPLEY: On this bus in Nepal, passengers spot the giant waves crashing into the bridge behind them. The streets are full of people trying to get away. Panic fills the bus as passengers look out the windows at the horror unfolding. In the same town, from the safety of a hillside temple, people watch helplessly as the deluge of dark water breaks apart a bridge like a toy, dragging it downstream.

This video from the Nepal Red Cross captures the speed and strength of the water, whipping around cars and tearing down power lines in its path. The flood came crashing down from high in the Himalayas. Scientists at Kathmandu University believe an avalanche of ice and rock may have blocked a river until the water broke through.

A torrent of water, mud, and debris forcing its way downstream, submerging or destroying buildings, tearing villages apart. Mile after mile of these majestic mountain valleys, a dark scar carved into the landscape. Foreign tourists, including Americans, are among the missing.

At this vital land gateway between China and Nepal between China and Nepal, the mudslide ripped apart roads, knocking out power and communications, leaving communities on both sides of the border cut off. On the ground, people get their first look at what little the flood left behind, and amid the horror, hope, a helicopter makes a daring rooftop rescue, one of many in the hours and days ahead. Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

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SANDOVAL: Well, it's a situation so horrifying that it's almost impossible to imagine. But a former Israeli hostage kidnapped by Hamas on October 7 was asked to dig his own grave. In an exclusive interview with CNN's Bianna Golodryga, he takes us back to that moment of sheer terror and describes what he endured in Hamas captivity. Some of the images in her report may be disturbing to some viewers.

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BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's an image that shocked the world: the emaciated figure of Evyatar David in a Gaza tunnel. After being held by Hamas for more than two years, Evyatar was finally released last October, back into the arms of his family. Now, nearly a year later, in his first international interview, Evyatar, who has made a remarkable physical recovery, says he's still dealing with the mental toll.

[04:35:00]

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EVYATAR DAVID, HELD HOSTAGE BY HAMAS FOR MORE THAN TWO YEARS: One hour I can be fine and happy, and the second one I can remember is something from captivity and get flashbacks and also I can wake up at night from nightmares. GOLODRYGA: Evyatar was kidnapped from the Nova Music Festival on October 7, 2023, and dragged into Gaza. He was held alongside his best friend since childhood, Guy Gilboa-Dalal, for much of his captivity. In a propaganda video released in August 2025, Evyatar was forced by his Hamas captors to list the days he went without food. His skeletal body looking close to death.

DAVID: We were in extreme starvation. Everything I say -- I'm saying there and doing, they tell me what to do, but of course, how you can see my body, it's totally true. I couldn't -- I -- I could barely move. Could barely do anything.

GOLODRYGA: In an act of horrifying psychological torture, Evyatar was also forced to dig his own grave.

DAVID: When I -- when I tried to dig the -- the grave, just to just to hold the -- the shovel, it was almost impossible. Probably the hardest physical thing I ever did. It took me like 50 meter -- 50 meters walk, and for me it was almost -- I almost collapsed. It was almost impossible for me to do.

GOLODRYGA: Evyatar says his captors would sometimes eat in front of him, another kind of torment.

DAVID: I can hear them laughing and eating cakes and drinking tea like there is no person that walks like next to them and looks like a skeleton, but this is how they are. They are very cruel.

GOLODRYGA: Since those scenes of jubilation, when after 738 days he and Guy became some of the last hostages to be released from Gaza, Evyatar and other survivors say they haven't had enough help from the government. His family and friends launched a crowdfunding campaign to help pay for his recovery. What could you tell this government or the next government because there are elections just weeks away about what they could do differently and better?

DAVID: We don't have enough help. This is why I do the campaign that my family and friends did for me for raising money, and I hope the next government will do better.

GOLODRYGA: As for the broader situation between Israel and Hamas, Evyatar does not have high hopes for a resolution. The U.S.-backed Board of Peace announced in recent weeks that Hamas had agreed to disarm if Israel withdraws its troops from Gaza, a move which President Trump called historic, but which has so far been rejected by Israel.

You spent over two years underground with some of these men, these terrorists. You know them in a way no negotiator ever will. Do you allow yourself to envision a Hamas-free Gaza, and peace.

DAVID: No, I don't think it's possible because they're pure ideology, they just want the whole end. They don't really care about Gaza. I could see, I could see it in their eyes. It's -- it's the thing that they -- they want the most. I never saw something like that. It's -- it's scary, really. GOLODRYGA: For Evyatar, each celebration of life's milestones now

represents victory. He recently attended fellow former hostage Eliya Cohen's wedding.

DAVID: You know, they try to take all of us and take our lives and ruin our family's life and everybody here's life. Eventually, they didn't manage to like ruin Eliya and Ziv's life. Eventually, they got married under the (inaudible), and it's the biggest closure and victory.

GOLODRYGA: Bianna Golodryga, CNN, New York.

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SANDOVAL: And you're watching CNN Newsroom. We'll be right back.

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[04:40:00]

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back. Film and theater fans are remembering Tim Curry, who died at the age of 80. His manager says Curry passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday. The English actor had been suffering with health problems following a stroke in 2012. Curry became a massively popular cult entertainment figure over the last decades on stage and on screen, often playing some colorful villains and larger-than-life characters.

His biggest roles include Dr. Frank N. Furter in the Rocky Horror Picture Show, the butler, Wadsworth in Clue, and also the terrifying clown, Pennywise in the TV miniseries, It.

The best-selling artist famous for washing the world with polka dots has died at the age of 97. Japan's Yayoi Kusama was famous for her pumpkin sculptures, polka dot paintings and infinity mirror installations that drew millions of visitors from around the globe.

She was one of the world's most celebrated artists, with her work fetching nearly $200 million at auctions just in 2023 alone. Kusama was also known for a splashy collaboration with French fashion house Louis Vuitton. She had little formal training. She even spent much of her childhood in a military factory sewing parachutes for Japan's Imperial Army. She leaves a colorful legacy behind.

Also, leaving an incredible legacy behind, Dolly Parton. She may no longer be with us, but her impact is being felt around the world. Her reach extends to the small rural town of Narromine in the Australian states of New South Wales. It's just about 450 kilometers northwest of Sydney. Well, every year for the past five years, the town has held a Dolly Parton festival.

In fact, last year organizers welcomed about 1,200 people who gathered to hear tribute bands and performs of Dolly's greatest hits, and following Parton's death on Tuesday at 80, festival organizers posted this tribute on Instagram, saying that they were heartbroken.

A town spokesperson says that the Queen of country music represents community, positivity, generosity, and the joy of bringing people together. This year's festival will be held on October 10 and will take place on with added significance following Parton's death.

Joining me now from Narromine is Skye Rush. She is a team member with the Dolly Parton Festival there in Australia. Skye, thank you so much for taking the time for us and wearing Dolly's trademark pink.

SKYE RUSH, NARROMINE DOLLY PARTON FESTIVAL TEAM MEMBER: She had her favorite color was actually yellow, which I found out a few years after we started, and we're all pink. So sorry, Dolly.

SANDOVAL: She wore some incredible yellow numbers as well. Listen, as we just told our viewers around the world, it seems that the show will go on, especially in Dolly's honor. So tell us a little bit about how organizers are planning to -- to celebrate her life this year?

[04:45:00]

RUSH: So we have actually Dolly Day is a Friday for -- for me, so I just do one day a week doing that and organizing it with the council, which is fantastic, and a great opportunity to -- to get that done, which is great. But we're going to sit down tomorrow and really have a -- a big think about how we're going to tribute, you know, tribute her fabulous life and her and what she's given to so many people.

So we're really excited about this opportunity, and I mean, Dolly was looking after us. We've got time to be able to do it, and it's close but not too close. So, thank you. That was great.

SANDOVAL: Never mind, some 15,000 kilometers from the Great Smoky Mountains that gave us Dolly Parton. So tell us a little bit about why her presence has -- has truly resonated in that, specifically in that corner of Australia. How did this festival come about?

RUSH: So it does seem strange to be so far away, but that's -- that is her legacy, isn't it? She's --she touched everybody. She's fantastic. She's everybody can understand who she is and what she is and what she represents, which is great. A friend of mine, Susie Ray (ph), who is fabulous and loves Dolly, she said we've got to put a festival on with -- there's quite a few other festivals around our area, and she said it will work really, really well if -- if we do this. And Dolly's our girl.

So I said, great, throw me in there. Very happy to run with you, and it's been incredible, the support we get and the people that come from everywhere. The real premise behind it all was we were in drought, and we had three years of drought, and it was very dry, and businesses were really struggling, and we needed a lift, and that was kind of the main thing that got us going.

It then rained, which was great, and then we had COVID, and that wasn't so great, but we got there in the end. And I think it's actually something that Dolly would support because it is about bringing people to our town and getting them to spend money in our town. And yeah, I think -- I think that's sort of part of her message is to support rural and support small towns. So yeah.

SANDOVAL: No, I think that's a great point that you're making because yeah, sure, of course, all of us around the world we know her for her -- her life on stage, on screen, the songwriter, the -- the poet that she was, but so much of her was what she did in silence, and -- and when she would you know with her philanthropic projects and inspiring small farming communities to -- to band together and to share -- you know, people of all ages to share that special moment.

I'm also think it's fascinating because Australians they've been paying tribute to Dolly in many ways already. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who said that Dolly made our world a better place in so many ways. Even posted a photo that he that he took with her in years past. She was also no stranger to traveling to Australia. So, just why do you think Aussies admired Dolly so much?

RUSH: Do you know, I think it might be because she just did what she wanted. She didn't care what anyone thought. She owned the fact that she wanted to be out there. She was happy to build herself, you know, not so naturally, but she -- she ended and she made fun of herself. And that's what we do. We -- we are so -- we love people that do that. That she's honest. She's -- you can relate to her.

She's -- she didn't big note herself. She was absolutely so humble in, as you say, in what she's doing. I think, yeah, I think she's the perfect role model to be honest. She's just she's been very easy to -- to have as our -- as our you know model as such. So you know, it has -- has been just an absolute pleasure seeing everybody come out of the woodwork and saying, "Oh, Dolly, yes, absolutely, I'm coming." You know, no one says who's Dolly Parton.

I'm a teacher, and the kids at school all know who Dolly is, all of them. And we actually had today all our (inaudible) with Dolly Parton's songs. You know, fantastic. Where - we -- you know, there's 75 kids (inaudible).

SANDOVAL: Yeah, no, that is absolutely. Yeah. Now that is absolutely wonderful. Well, we know that her presence will certainly be felt when you all once again gather come October for this year's festival, and I'm sure that you will find a perfectly fitting way to celebrate this legend's life, as we all already miss her, and she's only been gone for a few days. Skye Rush, thank you so much for your time, and -- and best of luck with the planning.

RUSH: Thank you, Polo. Thank you.

[04:50:00]

SANDOVAL: Of course, and there's much more to come here on CNN Newsroom. We'll be right back. Actually, before we let you go, this is one of the stories that we have headed your way. The Sussexes are back, but where exactly are they? A surprise landing in the U.K., which sparked a fresh royal mystery. We'll be right back.

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SANDOVAL: Well, a royal relocation mystery continues to fuel some fresh speculation. Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, they are reportedly back in the U.K. with their children and even their dogs-and all this is now raising new questions about where the Duke and Duchess of Sussex may be putting down their roots. CNN's Anna Stewart with this from London.

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ANNA STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They are back. Where and why is anyone's guess, but the dogs are here too. According to British media, the Sussex family landed at Birmingham Airport on Wednesday, having flown in from California on a private jet. Now, none of that is confirmed by the Sussex team. However, a spokesperson has confirmed to CNN that their dogs have joined them too.

[04:55:00]

The chickens, though, they are being left behind. Now, no foul play. As we understand it, they will be looked after back in Montecito. Flying into Birmingham, not London, is fueling further speculation about where the Sussexes will be living. There have been suggestions it could be the Cotswolds, an affluent rural area home to celebrities like Kate Moss and the Beckhams. The children are due to start new schools in England, and schools actually start early September, so they may not have much time to settle into British life.

Prince Harry and his family do not have an automatic right to taxpayer-funded security. That was downgraded when they stepped down as working members of the royal family, and as far as we know, the situation hasn't changed on that. It's an issue Prince Harry has previously said prevented his family from even visiting the U.K.. The palace has made clear Prince Harry and Meghan will not be working members of the royal family.

However, we will likely see plenty of them at charity engagements in the weeks ahead, and on social media as Megan continues to work on her lifestyle brand as ever. And who knows? There are also talks she could return to acting, so perhaps one day we'll see her back on the big screen. Anna Stewart, CNN, London.

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SANDOVAL: And if you're into gaming, the biggest event in the industry is now underway. It's happening in Germany. More than 1,700 exhibitors are currently gathering in Cologne for GamesCom. It's the world's largest video game trade fair. The event features hands-on demonstrations, stage shows, and massive cosplay competitions. Organizers are saying that this year's biggest trends include the responsible use of artificial intelligence, the continued rise of indie games, and a growing focus on how gaming can impact society.

GamesCom actually runs through Saturday, so not too late to check it out. Thank you so much for watching. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York. Our coverage continues with CNN Headline Express in a moment. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)