Nepal flash floods and the ‘26’ factor: Why this date keeps appearing in history’s darkest disasters

More than 900 people have died, and nearly 4,500 remain missing after devastating flash floods hit Nepal on August 26, 2026. The scale of the tragedy has brought renewed attention to an unsettling coincidence: Some of the world’s deadliest earthquakes, floods, tsunamis and human-made disasters have also occured on the 26th