Fears of further flooding complicated recovery efforts Friday, as authorities searched for hundreds of people still missing after devastating flash floods struck the Himalayan border between Nepal and China.
Nearly 1,000 people were still missing in Nepal, the country’s national disaster management authority said, including 67 Americans. More than 550 were reported missing in China, according to state news agency Xinhua.
The death toll in Nepal has reached at least 540 people, police said Friday. Five people were killed in Tibet, Xinhua reported.
Authorities in Nepal on Friday warned of potential further flooding in the same area of the Bhotekoshi River, urging rescue teams to stay alert and prepared to move to a safe area. Nepal’s police reported a burst water dam on the Tibet side of the border but did not specify the exact location.
Tibetan officials warned that the landslide that triggered Wednesday’s flash floods had created a barrier lake, which posed a threat to rescue work and could breach, Chinese state media said.
Engineering and rescue experts were using drones and telescopes to monitor the barrier lake, the state-run Xinhua News Agency said.
Many of the tourists caught in the flash floods were taking part in the Kailash Manasarovar, a religious pilgrimage to Tibet’s Mount Kailash, according to officials.
As the search continued, the Isha Foundation, an organization that guides pilgrims along the route, waited for news of a missing tour group of 80.
The group, which included 22 Americans and three Nepali volunteers, had arrived at a border crossing facility in Gyirong, Tibet, when the floods struck.
“We’re holding out hope, but we’ve also seen what is happening on the site,” said Leslie Crespi, the community liaison for the Isha Foundation in North America.
The foundation has been organizing treks to Mount Kailash for 21 years, she said. “The families are very shocked. It’s very hard to take this in or even imagine the degree of devastation that has happened.”
Geoscientists said initial assessments showed the floods were probably triggered by a landslide from a collapsing glacier. Tremors were initially mistaken for a 4.4-magnitude earthquake, though the U.S. Geological Survey later concluded the landslide was caused by a “glacial collapse and debris flow” and revised the magnitude upward to 5.2.
China’s Ministry of Natural Resources said the disaster was triggered on the Nepal side of the border, according to state media. The ministry said falling ice and rock fell down a mountain slope, picking up loose glacial debris along its path before entering the Gyirong Zangbo River.
The seismic event unleashed a torrent of water, rock, mud and ice that swept through the border region, swallowing up homes, blocking roads and damaging infrastructure.
The Nepal Tourism Board said Friday that 121 foreign nationals had been rescued, including two Americans, and 662 tourists were still unaccounted for.
The United Nations said Thursday that more than 30,000 security personnel are involved in the rescue operation, citing Nepalese officials. The agency said access to the region has been complicated by the scale of destruction.
About 40 kilometers (25 miles) of road have been damaged, it added, and around 10,000 households are in immediate need.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping Friday chaired an emergency meeting on China’s response, state media reported, saying officials stressed that rescue plans “should be formulated in a scientific manner.”
China will provide emergency aid to Nepal and cooperate with international rescue efforts, the reports added.
Conditions in Nepal appear wetter than normal into early September, with monsoon rains affecting the country. The unsettled weather could challenge recovery efforts and pose a new risk of flooding.
The U.S. Embassy in Nepal, citing the country’s Department of Hydrology and Meteorology, said Thursday that continuing rainfall could trigger local flooding, landslides and additional damage.
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