Nepal on alert as dammed lake bursts again on Tibetan side; rescue ops suspended

Kathmandu: A dammed lake on the Tibetan side of the Nepal-China border has burst its banks again, prompting Nepal authorities to suspend rescue operations and issue an urgent warning for people in the flood-hit Rasuwa district to move to safer locations.

Officials in Nepal's Rasuwa district received information on Friday that the lake had breached, Narendra Pariyar, the district's most senior bureaucrat, said, as reported by Reuters. 

Nepal authorities subsequently paused helicopter rescue operations in Rasuwa for 90 minutes after receiving reports that the dammed lake had begun overflowing. A Reuters witness said local residents were seen rushing towards higher ground.

Nepal Police issued an alert urging rescue and security personnel, as well as members of the public, to immediately move to safe locations.

"Water reservoir on the Tibet side has burst again... As information has been received that the water level on the Tibet side has risen again, all security personnel, rescue workers and members of the public involved in rescue and relief operations are requested to remain alert immediately and move toward/notify people about a safe location," the police force said in the alert.

The fresh breach comes just two days after devastating flash floods struck areas near the Tibet-Nepal border, leaving a large number of people missing and disrupting rescue efforts.

China had earlier warned of a high risk of a barrier lake breaching after floodwaters accumulated near the confluence of the Chhochen Khola and Purepu Tsangpo rivers, which originate in Tibet and flow into Nepal as part of the Bhote Koshi river system.

The lake had accumulated an estimated two million cubic metres of water, with forecasts indicating that inflows could reach around three million cubic metres over three days amid continued rainfall. Chinese authorities had warned that a breach could send floodwaters downstream and threaten areas including Gyirong Port on the China-Nepal border.

China had also instructed local authorities to closely monitor the barrier lake and rainfall, strengthen forecasting and risk assessments and identify people living in potentially vulnerable downstream areas.

Meanwhile, a 5.1-magnitude earthquake jolted parts of China's Sichuan province, neighbouring Tibet, on Friday, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The earthquake and renewed concerns over flooding come as rescue teams continue efforts in the aftermath of the catastrophic flash floods that hit Nepal and Tibet.