Scientists say a flash flood hit Nepal on Wednesday.

A big piece of a glacier broke off.

It blocked a river for a short time.

Then the water rushed down with great force.

The flood killed at least 353 people.

More than 1,300 people are missing.

The U.S. Geological Survey reported a glacier collapse.

It was a magnitude 5.2 event.

They used seismic data and satellite images.

Jakob Steiner is a geoscientist.

He works at the University of Graz.

He said the lower part of a glacier fell off.

The falling ice felt like a bomb exploding.

Researchers say it is too early to link this to global warming.

But they say rising temperatures make such events more likely.

This is true in the Himalayas.

The Himalayas are warming faster than many other places.

Water levels in rivers rose by up to 9 meters.

This happened in 30 minutes.

The Hindu Kush Himalaya has the most snow and ice outside the polar regions.

About 78% of its glacier area is highly exposed to warming.

Scientists say melting glaciers can make lakes bigger.

They can also weaken mountain slopes.

This raises the risk of sudden floods and other dangers.

Steiner said the area has a history of bad mountain events.

These include floods and avalanches.

He warned that what happened is "the new normal."

Risks will grow.

Experts want better early warning systems.

They want faster information sharing.

But they say watching thousands of glaciers is very hard.

In some cases, people have only minutes to act.