Add The New York Post on Google Rock, mud and debris swept down the mountains during Wednesday’s devastating flash flood in Nepal may have formed a barrier lake at the junction of two rivers that is at risk of overtaking the natural dam, prompting fears of a second round of flooding.
The Chinese Ministry of Water Resources said on CCTV News Wednesday that the landslide dam with a “high risk of breaching” is blocking the flow of water near where the Tsogyal River and Purupqiangzangbu River meet.
Experts fear a barrier lake formed by Wednesday’s devastating flash flooding in Nepal could breach, resulting in another deadly torrent of water. AFP via Getty Images Experts with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development are warning the blockage, and others in the area’s numerous river systems, could trigger another disaster.
The barrier lake formed at the junction point is already overflowing and estimated to be holding some 2 million cubic meters of water, with another 3 million cubic meters expected to enter the lake over the next 72 hours.
The ministry said it’s monitoring the situation following Wednesday’s deadly flash flood, which Nepali officials said has caused “devastation beyond imagination.”
Experts believe the flooding was prompted by the collapse of a glacier upstream, unleashing a 300 to 650-foot-high “tsunami from the sky,” as Bishal Nath Upreti, a geologist with Trihuvan University in Kathmandu described it, calling the flood “one of the largest disasters in Nepal.”
Before (top) and after (bottom) images of the Shyaphrubesi village and Trishuli River before the flood in the Rasuwa district of Nepal. 2026 Planet Labs PBC/AFP via Getty Images Over 350 people were killed, Nepali police said, and more than 1,300 were still missing — 826 in Nepal and 558 in China-controlled Tibet — including hundreds of tourists from around the world.
So far 54 Americans were confirmed to have died in the flooding, and at least 65 are still missing, according to Nepal’s tourism board.
