More than 540 people are dead and at least 1,000 are missing after catastrophic flash floods and landslides tore through Nepal and parts of southern China. Helicopters have lifted more than 3,000 people to safety in Kathmandu and other locations, but local Nepalese media reported that as many as 12,000 people could still be missing, far more than official government counts.
According to CBS News, the Red Cross estimated that roughly 90,000 people had likely been affected by the flooding, which is believed to have been triggered by the collapse of a rocky ledge and a large portion of a glacier it had supported. Nepal's disaster management authority said 977 people were officially unaccounted for, while China's state media previously reported 558 missing on its side of the border. Hundreds of those missing are foreigners who were in the area to work, trek, or make a pilgrimage to a sacred Nepali peak.
On Friday, Nepal Police issued a fresh alert after receiving word that a dam on the Tibetan side of the border had burst. Security personnel and rescue workers were ordered to stay on high alert and move to safety immediately if necessary. It was not clear whether the burst dam was connected to a barrier lake that had formed behind a debris dam higher up on the Chinese side of the mountains.
China's state broadcaster CCTV reported that the barrier lake sat more than six miles from Gyirong Port, the border crossing with Nepal that was destroyed Wednesday morning by a wall of mud and water. The lake was at an elevation of 9,680 feet, roughly 3,280 feet above Gyirong Port. Reuters later reported that CCTV said flood risks from the lake were considered manageable.
Nepal's death toll stood at 538, according to the French news agency AFP. On the Chinese side, five deaths were confirmed by Friday, with state media showing evacuations of villages and officials directing relief operations.
Rescuers were also working to reach dozens of workers believed to be trapped inside a hydropower tunnel in Rasuwa, part of the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project. Video from the scene showed rescuers pulling a man covered in dark brown mud out of the tunnel entrance.
Army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet told the Associated Press that locating those inside was proving difficult.
"It is complicated to find the entry and exit points of the tunnel because everything has been covered by mud," Basnet said. "Our first priority is to find survivors."
Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle confirmed the rescue operation had not been suspended, saying it "hasn't stopped," but was continuing under high alert.
