China’s Ministry of Water Resources has warned that a newly formed barrier lake near the Nepal-Tibet border poses a “high risk” of breaching within the next three days, raising fears of a second major flood just as Nepal struggles with the aftermath of Wednesday’s disaster.
The lake formed where the Chhochen Khola and Purepu Tsangpo rivers meet, upstream of the Bhote Koshi river system, after a landslide near China’s Gyirong Port blocked the waterway. According to state broadcaster CCTV, the lake held roughly 2 million cubic metres of water as of Thursday morning and is expected to receive another 3 million cubic metres over the following three days. Chinese authorities said the lake has already begun overflowing and are running flood simulations to model the impact of a possible breach.
A breach would release the accumulated water in a sudden surge down the Bhote Koshi-Trishuli-Narayani river system, threatening to sweep away infrastructure and communities already reeling from Wednesday’s flood. That earlier flood, triggered by a landslide-driven torrent from Tibet, tore through the Timure and Syaphrubesi areas of Rasuwa district before continuing downstream.
As of Thursday at 5 pm local time, Nepali authorities had recovered at least 359 bodies across eight districts, while 826 people remained missing, including 517 foreign nationals. The disaster has also disrupted the Gyirong border crossing, a key trade and travel route between Nepal and China.
Authorities on both sides of the border have restricted movement along vulnerable highways and relocated residents from high-risk areas as monitoring of the lake continues. Questions have also emerged over the speed of China’s warning ahead of Wednesday’s flood, with Nepali officials saying they were notified only hours after the landslide struck upstream.