"The River Swelled Again" as Fears Grow Over a Second Flood

Four days after a massive flood struck the valley on the Nepal-China border, river levels rose again, increasing the likelihood of a second flood. Local authorities urged rescue teams to be especially careful.
According to Agence France-Presse (AFP), the Nepal Disaster Management Authority said in an alert issued at 7:20 a.m. on the 30th that it had received information that the flow of the Bhotekoshi River in Rasuwa, Bagmati Province in central Nepal, had increased further.
The authority stressed, "All personnel involved in search, rescue and relief operations, residents along the river, and everyone in the affected areas, including Rasuwa, Nuwakot, Dading and Chitwan, should remain extremely cautious."
A large-scale flood hit the Bagmati Province area of Nepal, near the border with China, at around 8:37 a.m. on the 26th. Experts said the flood was triggered when melting Himalayan glaciers collapsed and swept through the valley with mud and debris. As of the 30th, Nepal had recorded 734 dead and 2,498 missing.
The flood also triggered a major landslide on the Chinese side. According to Xinhua News Agency, 16 people had died and 546 were missing in Jilong County, Xigaze, in the Tibet Autonomous Region as of the 30th. Combined, the death toll and missing persons on both sides reached 750 and 3,044, respectively.
Rescue workers in both countries have been carrying out large-scale operations for four days, but they are facing difficulties because the terrain in the affected areas is rugged. On the 28th, rescue work was briefly suspended and evacuation orders were issued after a "natural dam lake" formed by mud and rocks blocking a river overflowed upstream of the Jilong border checkpoint in Jilong County.
According to China Central Television (CCTV), the Information Office of the People's Government of the Tibet Autonomous Region held a press conference in Jilong on the 30th and said, "The barrier lake formed upstream of the key border gate area has already overflowed and is draining out," adding that "the overall situation is currently stable." It also said that "the possibility of a complete collapse is relatively low."
Meanwhile, the Bhotekoshi River mentioned by Nepalese authorities on the 30th is an upstream water system that flows from Tibet into Rasuwa in Nepal, joins the Langtang Khola, and then continues into the Trishuli River. The intake dam of the Upper Trishuli-1 (UT-1) Hydropower Plant, where nine Korean employees are believed to be missing, is located about 275 meters downstream from the confluence of the Bhotekoshi River and the Langtang Khola.