The death toll from catastrophic flash flooding on the Nepal-China border has surpassed 600, with more than 3,000 people still missing, according to officials on both sides of the Himalayas.
The disaster, which struck Wednesday, was triggered when an enormous chunk of glacier sheared off a mountainside, plunging around 1 kilometer into the valley below. The event created the equivalent of a 5.2-magnitude earthquake, according to the US Geological Survey.
The torrent — described by some as “liquid concrete” — surged through narrow gorges, wiping out homes, buildings, power plants, bridges, and roads. Entire villages have been buried in sludge.
The Missing
The vast majority of the missing are in Nepal, where nearly 900 hydropower workers may be trapped in remote tunnels. Many of the workers had been employed at dozens of hydropower projects located near the border, many of which were situated in remote river gorges.
“These accumulations will have blocked the rivers in tributary valleys such that lakes are now starting to form, posing the risk of follow up flood events,” said Dr Richard Waller, author and senior lecturer in physical geography at the UK’s Keele University.
Authorities are planning to bury unidentifiable remains in a mass grave as they struggle to cope with decomposing bodies.
Rescue Efforts
Rescue teams from Nepal, China, and India are working to reach trapped workers and locate the missing. Five rescue personnel with expertise on tunnels arrived in China from Nepal, with an additional four on their way, according to Chinese state media.
“We are sharing in our sorrow,” said Myam Jiri, vice president of the Long Island Nepalese Society, as the Nepali community in New York held a vigil for their loved ones.
The Human Toll
Loved ones in the US and several other countries await word on missing travelers. Mukti Patel, from Richmond, Virginia, has four family members missing. “I shouldn’t talk in past tense yet,” she said. “We don’t know anything.”
Anurag Goel, whose father is missing, said he has to remain confident as he waits for word. “She was essentially almost in the epicenter over there,” said Manmeet Singh Meet, whose best friend Jiwan Jyoti called from Nepal minutes before the flood struck.
The Lake Threat
A newly-formed lake near the flood zone has shrunk, but a second lake remains, prompting concerns of another flood event. The formation of both bodies of water prompted Nepali and Chinese officials to temporarily halt critical emergency efforts on Friday over fears of another landslide.
Officials say the first lake is “currently experiencing normal natural outflow,” but the second lake’s surface area has remained unchanged. The probability of the area overflowing is “not very high, but it still needs to be continuously monitored,” according to China’s state broadcaster CCTV.
The Bottom Line
Catastrophic flash flooding on the Nepal-China border has killed over 600 people and left more than 3,000 missing. The disaster, triggered by a massive glacier collapse and landslide, wiped out entire villages and dozens of hydropower projects. Nearly 900 workers remain trapped in tunnels. Rescue efforts are ongoing, but officials warn of the risk of a secondary flood event from newly formed lakes.
