Nepal-Tibet flash flood: rescue operations resume after halting over lake overflow; death toll rises to 469 – latest updates

Key events

Bidur, on the banks of the Trishuli river, is one of the few areas affected by the floods that is still accessible by road.

But what was once a bustling town now lies in ruins. Most homes were completely washed away when a tide of mud, rocks and debris flooded down the river valley early on Wednesday morning. Those who survived described clinging on to buildings and trees as the water rushed over them.

The mangled concrete remains of a bank, a government office and an ATM booth were among the few structures left standing, still submerged deep in mud. Officials said there were still bodies buried inside the buildings but it was too dangerous to enter and dig them out.

Nearby, locals gathered desperately along the muddy road, calling out for lost relatives and trying to dig out remnants of their lives.

Yet rescue efforts in Bidur were quickly disrupted on Friday morning as the levels of the Trishuli river began to rise once again, after a lake upstream, close to the China border, burst its banks. Revsue workers were cleared from the area while residents who had tried to return to their site of their lost and ruined homes were told to evacuate again immediately.

Most of the areas battered by the flash floods still remained only accessible by army helicopter. In Bidur army camp, where much of the rescue efforts was being coordinated, rescue helicopters and army choppers flew in and out every five minutes, dropping off dozens of traumatised victims. Many said that in a matter of minutes, the floods had taken their loved ones, their homes and everything they owned.

This aerial footage shows the lake that formed as a result of the flooding, which started to overflow.

Barrier lake forms at base of mountains near Nepal border

Rescue operations resumed after pause due to overflowing lake

Nepalese ⁠authorities have ⁠resumed ⁠rescue operations in ​the region ⁠hit by a ⁠devastating ​flood ‌this ‌week, an ‌army spokesperson said on Friday, after ‌a brief suspension due ​to water overflowing ⁠from ​a barrier ​lake.

An Australian woman has made contact with her family, more than two days after she was reported missing in flash flooding in Nepal.

Cara Severino, 25, is the first of 39 Australians reported missing in the tragedy to have been confirmed safe.

But she is still hiking away from the disaster zone, attempting to reach Kathmandu on foot with a group of Nepali hikers – a trek of more than 110km.

Her parents, Debbie and Frank Severino, confirmed in a statement that she had no phone reception, and her own phone had a flat battery, but that she had contacted them on Friday morning to say she was safe.

In a statement, they said:

She was hiking the Langtang trek and was stranded. With communications down we had no contact.

This morning she was able to call us from Gosainkunda where she has been able to reach along with some other [Nepali] hikers. We understand that they are attempting to reach Kathmandu on foot.

We eagerly await more information about her safe return. We praise God that she has been able to make this brief contact with us. Our thoughts and prayers are with all the families awaiting news.

Find the full story below.

China state broadcaster CCTV says five people died in flooding along Tibet’s border with Nepal.

The number of people ​reported missing on the ⁠Tibetan side of the ​border was ​unchanged ​at ​558 ‌as of ​3pm Beijing time (8am BST).

You can read the full story about the lake overflowing on the Nepal-Tibet border below.

China says lake risks 'gradually decreasing'

Risks from a lake formed after a deadly mudslide in Tibet are “gradually decreasing”, AFP reports, citing Chinese state media, adding that rescue operations were “proceeding in an orderly manner”.

Water from the lake was “flowing out naturally, with the outflow discharge exceeding the inflow discharge”, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Compared to the high water level in the early morning on August 27, the lake’s water level has dropped by around 10 metres (33 feet), and the risk is gradually decreasing.

It was not immediately clear if the lake was the same as a debris dam that Nepalese authorities warned had burst on Friday.

Here are some of the latest images from the news wires.

Family members of missing flood victims look at the list of missing flood victims at the emergency ward of the Maharajgunj Medical Campus, part of the Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. Photograph: Ritesh Shukla/Getty Images

People stand on a hill after reaching high ground following a warning that a lake has broken its banks, two days after flash floods and a mudslide in Trishuli, Nuwakot district, Nepal. Photograph: Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters

A woman embraces her child following their rescue from a flash flood site at Trishuli camp in Nepal's Nuwakot district. Photograph: Arun Sankar/AFP/Getty Images

Nepal does not need foreign assistance for search-and-rescue operations following the devastating flash flood, its foreign ⁠ministry said on ⁠Friday, despite ​offers of help from several countries with nationals missing in the disaster.

Nepal’s foreign ‌ministry said ‌that it was managing the rescue efforts. “The offer for help is natural. Our security agencies ‌are doing the search and rescue operation. For now we don’t require such help,” Lok Bahadur Chhetri, spokesperson for the foreign ministry, said without providing further details.

South Korea’s foreign ministry said Nepal had indicated it was not yet planning to accept foreign rescue teams.

A South Korean rapid response team is already in Kathmandu but has not been deployed, it added.

It said:

South Korea will keep negotiating with Nepal over the matter.

Seoul ‌has pledged $1 million in humanitarian assistance through international organisations, its foreign minister said on X. Nine South Koreans working in a hydropower plant were ​missing and 10 were stranded, South Korea’s foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

Narendra Pariyar, the most senior bureaucrat in hard-hit Rasuwa ‌district, confirmed that the glacial lake had broken its bank.

“We can see that the level of water in the river is rising,” he said, adding that it was unclear how high the water level was at present.

Helicopter rescue operations halted in Nepal as lake dam breaks in Rasuwa district

Authorities in ⁠Nepal have stopped ⁠rescue operations ⁠for the ​next 90 minutes, ⁠an army officer said on Friday, ⁠after ​reports ‌that a ‌dammed lake ‌in the flood-hit region began to overflow.

Helicopter rescue operations in ‌the flood hit Rasuwa district ​were stopped and locals were ⁠seen rushing up ​the hill, according ​to ​a Reuters ​witness.

Interim summary

In case you’re just joining us, here’s a snapshot of the latest in the Nepal-Tibet calamity.

• Chinese authorities warned that an artificial lake formed after a catastrophic flash flood hit the China-Nepal border on Wednesday faces a “high risk of breaching and sending flood waters downstream”, state media reported.

• Nepal also warned of new flooding risks, with the country’s disaster authority saying water levels were rising in a lake formed by debris clogging a flooded site and ‌that it was at risk of bursting its banks.

• Rescue teams and military helicopters continue their search for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous border. Wednesday’s flash flooding after a glacial collapse killed at least 469 people and has left more than 1,500 missing.

• Efforts to locate those unaccounted for have been complicated by the destruction of dozens of bridges and 40km (25 miles) of roads. The missing include hundreds of tourists from India, the US, Britain, Australia and Canada.

• The Red Cross said about 93,000 people might have been affected and launched an emergency appeal for $31m for disaster relief.

People rescued from an area cut off by flash flooding line up to register at an army camp in Nepal’s Nuwakot district on Friday. Photograph: Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP

• China paused a rescue operation at the epicentre of the Tibet disaster due to the high risk of renewed flooding in Tibet. State broadcaster CCTV reported that a lake formed by immense piles of debris had begun overflowing towards the area that rescue teams were headed.

• Nepali army helicopter rescue teams are working to rescue about 100 people trapped inside a tunnel at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project swamped by Wednesday’s flash flood, an army spokesperson said.

• UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said he ordered the release of $2m from the UN’s central emergency response fund to help with medical care, shelter and water.

• Rescuers found bodies in Nepal’s Chitwan district, hundreds of kilometres downstream from the hardest-hit areas.

The overall death toll in Nepal has risen to 469 people, with more than 1,500 missing, and China has paused rescue work at the epicentre of the Tibet flooding amid fears that an artificial lake ⁠formed at the ⁠site ⁠was ⁠at risk ​of ‌bursting.

The international community, meanwhile, is scrambling to get aid into flood-stricken parts of Nepal and Tibet but search and rescue efforts are being complicated by the destruction.

There’s more in our new full report here:

The scale of the destruction from the flooding in Nepal’s northern border region was becoming clearer on Friday, with roads, bridges and hydropower infrastructure destroyed and survivors describing scenes of extraordinary devastation.

Amid the rescue attempt unfolding at the Trishuli 3A hydropower project, workers rescued from other dam projects along the Trishuli valley described a disaster that unfolded with terrifying speed.

“There were at least 400 workers at the site,” Dev Shrestha, who was airlifted from the site where he was working, said after his rescue.

More people died than were rescued.

Worker Buddha Tamang said he survived only because he was inside a tunnel at the dam where he worked when the flood struck – but he had managed to get out and reach help, Agence France-Presse reports.

“I survived as I was in the tunnel,” said Tamang, who was airlifted on Thursday after being marooned for more than 24 hours.

The senior officers working on the other side, they were all swept away.

Another worker, Arjun Kumar Tamang, spoke of “massive damage” at the hydropower site where he had been.

I don’t know how many people died but the force of the water swept everything away.