Kathmandu: More than 350 people have died in Nepal’s flash floods, and counting. Over 1,000 including 288 Indians are missing after a glacier collapse triggered a deadly wall of water in Bhotekoshi river on Wednesday.
Even as rescue and relief teams are leaving no stone unturned to provide relief to affected people, there could be more bad news round the corner.
The disaster-hit region, near the Nepal-China border, is facing the threat of a fresh flood. China warned Nepal that a newly-formed barrier lake upstream could burst within three days and send a fresh surge of water downstream.
According to China’s Ministry of Water Resources, the barrier lake has formed near the confluence of Chhochen Khola and Purepu Tsangpo rivers, which held about 2 million cubic metres of water on Thursday morning and is already overflowing.
Another 3 million cubic metres could flow in over the next three days, the ministry warned, which could lead to a breach.
Chinese engineers are running flood simulations to prepare for the new threat, and Nepal has told residents along Bhotekoshi, Trishuli and Narayani rivers to stay off the banks until further notice.
According to Nepal’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), the surge on Wednesday crossed into Nepal around 9 am, and peaked at Devghat in Chitwan by late afternoon, flowing at nearly 5,850 cubic metres a second.
An alarming additional 20 million cubic metres of extra water passed through Devghat, several times the volume of the 1985 Dig Tsho glacial flood in Everest region.
The wave of water travelled almost 170 kilometres downstream in a matter of hours.