China and Nepal both warned on Thursday of fresh risks of flooding in the Himalayas, with a dam from debris leading to the formation of a barrier lake that had been threatening to collapse.
The lake straddles the border of both countries and lies upstream from the Gyirong border crossing.
The nation has been racing to reduce the risk of more flooding at the border crossing linking the Xizang Autonomous Region to Nepal, after hundreds were killed on Wednesday.
On Friday morning, the risk of the lake bursting and potential secondary disasters such as mountain collapses and avalanches prompted all Chinese rescue personnel and vehicles to withdraw to a safe area, broadcaster CCTV said.
By noon, the risk posed was deemed manageable, allowing rescue operations to be continued and stepped up, CCTV reported.
The lake’s reservoir has topped 2.5 million cubic metres of water, up from the estimated 1.5 million to two million cubic metres, a mainland eight-member engineering team dispatched to monitor the site recorded a day ago.
Authorities mobilised the engineering team to conduct aerial surveys and 3D modelling of the barrier lake on Thursday, according to another CCTV report.
One of the engineers, Chen Hanxiao, said challenges included difficult access to the site.
“After the glacier collapse created the lake, many isolated cliffs and steep cliffs appeared along its shoreline,” Chen told CCTV on Thursday evening.
The official death toll on the Xizang side rose to five while the number of people missing remains unchanged at 558. (Reuters)
