Nepal Floods Live Updates: Nepal again on alert, braces for more destruction after upstream dam burst on ‘Tibetan side’

Nepal's Prime Minister Balendra Shah and his council of ministers on Friday pledged to deposit a month's salary to Prime Minister's Disaster Relief Fund in the wake of devastating flash floods that claimed hundreds of lives, ANI reported.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday convened a meeting of the ruling Communist Party to take stock of the situation after the devastating flash floods ravaged the Nepal-Tibet Himalayan region. In the meeting, discussions on rescue and relief efforts took place as the deadly flash floods that hit Gyirong County in the Tibet Autonomous Region on Wednesday claimed multiple lives, PTI reported.

China paused flash flood search and rescue operation on Friday due to high risk of renewed flooding in Tibet. "All rescue teams have been ordered to stand by in place and wait for further instructions," state broadcaster CCTV said as reported by AFP. According to state media said, emergency teams which had earlier accessed the area “have been ordered to withdraw one kilometre (0.6 miles)”. Warning against rising water level of the lake, CCTV said, “the risk of a breach that could send floodwaters downstream and potentially cause further damage in areas including Gyirong Port and elsewhere downstream”

Over the next three days, the situation is expected to get worse due to continued rainfall, peaking around September 1.

An earthquake of magnitude 5.1 hit Sichuan in China on Friday, prompting another flood alert in Nepal.

Official in Nepal's Rasuwa district have temporarily halted rescue operations after a lake across the border started overflowing. The lake formed from debris from the flash flood with no visible outlet poses fresh risks of flooding in the Himalayas.

Narendra Pariyar, the most senior bureaucrat of the district, on Friday said, "We can see that the level of water in the river is rising," Reuters reported.

Authorities in Nepal issued a warning on Friday after reports of dam burst surfaced. As per AFP report, an upstream dam in Tibet collapsed due to which residents and tourists have been asked to move to higher ground. This comes two days after a glacial collapse caused deadly flash floods in the region.

"Information has been received that a water dam has burst again on the Tibetan side," AFP quoted Nepal police statement. It added, "All security personnel, rescue workers, and the general public deployed in rescue and relief operations are requested to remain alert and immediately move to a safe location/report the incident."

Finance Minister Swarnim Wagle in an interview with Bloomberg Television said, “Cumulatively, I think the losses and damages when they will be finally quantified in a week or so, will amount to at least a few billion dollars."

Rescuers were racing to find hundreds of people still missing two days after a catastrophic flash flood struck the Himalayan border between Nepal and China, as the death toll rose Friday and authorities warned that an overflowing lake formed after the disaster could trigger further flooding.

Nepali army helicopter rescue teams were working on Friday to rescue around 100 people trapped inside a tunnel at a hydropower project swamped by a devastating flood two days earlier.

"Our focus is in search and rescue of people... some people are trapped in the tunnel of Trishuli 3A hydropower project," Nepal Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet told AFP.

Nepal does not need help from other countries to conduct search and rescue operations after a devastating flash flood wrecked towns, its foreign ministry said on Friday.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has extended solidarity with people from India affected by the devastating floods along the Nepal-China border in a message written in Tibetan.

Former Odisha Chief Minister and BJD chief Naveen Patnaik has expressed condolences to the families of the deceased in the Nepal floods, which caused 389 deaths and left 977 persons missing.

The death toll from a flash flood that occurred earlier this week in Nepal has reached 469, Nepal police said on Friday.

Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Alok Kumar expressed grief over the loss of life in the flash floods that hit Nepal and said that nature remains the most powerful force.

Speaking to ANI, Kumar said that the incident was saddening for everyone and paid tribute to those who lost their lives in the disaster.

Rescuers have evacuated 555 stranded tourists from Tibet after a devastating mudslide on the China-Nepal border, Chinese state media reported Friday.

As rescue teams searched for missing people following catastrophic flooding along the Nepal-China border, Earth scientists reviewed satellite imagery for clues to the cause and assessed the devastation.

US officials said about 90 Americans remained unaccounted for Thursday, a day after catastrophic flash floods engulfed a border area of China and Nepal, killing hundreds of people. A spiritual organization said that 22 Americans associated with it were unaccounted for.

Chinese authorities warned that an artificial lake formed after a mudslide hit the China-Nepal border faces a "high risk of breaching and sending floodwaters downstream", according to state media.

Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday underlined India's commitment to supporting Nepal during its current flood crisis, stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already initiated steps to dispatch all possible assistance to the neighbouring country.

Border states of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are on high alert for flash flooding, and residents have been evacuated from some areas, according to a government statement issued late Wednesday.