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Why a newly formed lake is sparking fears of more flooding along the Nepal-China border
Why a newly formed lake is sparking fears of more flooding along the Nepal China border. Originally published by Mongabay.
By Associated Press · 2026-09-05T23:02:25.159Z
BENGALURU, India AP — Even as rescuers worked through mud and debris https://apnews.com/1f3d0ccf432eed879020e18efcab3146 Friday in areas devastated by a catastrophic flash flood https://apnews.com/article/climate change nepal flash floods 7262dac22e31258955efa5c28c8fe917 along the Himalayan border between Nepal and China, authorities warned that a newly formed, overflowing lake https://apnews.com/article/nepal tibet china glacier floods ae9973b5fd2b1dc6d54c3e88b1b55bdc could trigger further flooding. Nepalese authorities said all security personnel, rescue workers and members of the public deployed in rescue and relief efforts https://apnews.com/article/nepal tibet floods how to help 416f48083b8598278ffc93b23e7212c0 have been told to remain on high alert and immediately move to a safe location if necessary. Nepal police spokesperson Abi Narayan Kafle told The Associated Press that the rescue operation is continuing but with authorities remaining on high alert. “It hasn’t stopped,” he said. Satellite imagery shown by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV seems to indicate that the newly formed lake was in the same area as where the glacial detachment event happened on Wednesday that resulted in the chain of events leading to catastrophic damage downstream. Nepal’s disaster management authority said that satellite imagery and preliminary assessments indicate that the river has been blocked upstream, creating a growing lake that could burst and trigger a sudden downstream flood. CCTV reported Friday morning that the lake’s barrier was more than 10 kilometers 6 miles from Gyirong Port, the border crossing with Nepal that was engulfed by mud and floodwater. The broadcaster said that the lake was at an elevation of 2,950 meters 9,680 feet , about 1,000 meters 3,280 feet above Gyirong Port. Climate scientists tracking developments in the Himalayan region said that Wednesday’s glacial collapse has resulted in several small water bodies forming as debris is still strewn across the region. “Another dammed lake was formed by the August 26th ice rock avalanche and this has begun to outflow,” said Qianggong Zhang of the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development. The lake holds a few million cubic meters of water and is located in a valley section with a limited elevation drop to downstream areas, said Zhang, who is head of climate and environmental risks at the Kathmandu based climate research group. The amount of water is the equivalent of around 1,200 Olympic sized swimming pools. What are the concerns? With hundreds killed and more than 1,500 people missing and as the region tries to recover from the catastrophe, the possibility of another disaster has sent alarm bells ringing. “There is still a lot of glacial melts going on because of high temperatures and the water is accumulating at various points, as there is bound to be a lot of debris and rock on the river’s path,” said Jakob Steiner, a geoscientist at the University of Graz in Austria who is based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Both Zhang and Steiner said that the alerts should be taken seriously, as many rescuers are putting themselves at great risk to find the missing, but it’s unlikely that a flash flood as devastating as the one on Wednesday will happen again. By Sibi Arasu, Associated Press. Huizhong Wu contributed to this report from Bangkok. https://apnews.com/article/nepal lake china flood tibet climate 5086eb25e29b23019632f7817739f807 Banner image: The Trishuli River after flash floods in Nepal. Image by Niranjan Shrestha, Associated Press