(Corrects headline and first and sixth paragraphs to clarify that a single lake – not two lakes – straddles the border)
TRISHULI, Nepal / BEIJING, Aug 27 (Reuters) – Nepal and China both warned on Thursday of fresh risks of flooding in the Himalayas as a lake that has developed across their border threatens to burst in a region still grappling with this week’s catastrophic flood.
Search and rescue operations are still underway in the debris-strewn valleys and hillsides, with nearly 1,000 people still missing after Wednesday’s flood struck the border regions of Nepal and China’s Tibet, killing at least 362 people.
Both countries have blamed the flood on a glacier collapse that pushed rock, ice, mud and debris into river systems in the mountains.
Nepal’s disaster authority issued a notice on Thursday warning that a lake formed by debris blocking a river at the flood site is rising and at risk of bursting.
“Residents of the lower banks… passengers, rescuers engaged in rescue operations, and all concerned are requested to exercise special caution and stay in safe places away from the river banks and risky areas,” the authority said.
China warned that 3 million cubic meters of water — the equivalent of about 1,200 Olympic swimming pools — are expected to flow into the dammed lake over the next three days, creating a high risk of a breach, with peak flow expected around September 1.
The formation of a barrier lake was captured in aerial footage by a Chinese rescue team on Thursday, state broadcaster CGTN reported.
The footage showed masses of brown water accumulating in a basin with no visible outlet. The water had already submerged bushes and trees and appeared to push against a barrier of debris and stones.
MORE RAIN EXPECTED
Rainfall forecast over the coming week will exacerbate the threat, Chinese state media said, citing the Chinese water resources ministry.
“The volume of water is continuing to increase, and so is the risk,” Zhu Jinfeng, a researcher at the water resources ministry’s hydrology department, told state broadcaster CCTV.
Heeding the warning, some rescue workers in Nepal began moving towards higher ground on Thursday.
Among them was Pawan Koirala, who began moving away from the river bed along with his team of 13 after the warning was issued.
“We are here for rescue and don’t want to be near the danger zone,” he said.
(Reporting by Saurabh Sharma in Trishuli, Sakshi Dayal in New Delhi, Xiuhao Chen in Beijing; Additional reporting by George Sargent and Milan Pavicic in London; Writing by Sakshi Dayal; Editing by YP Rajesh, Gareth Jones and Rick Noack)
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