Nepal and China have both warned of fresh risks of flooding as authorities scramble to respond to a catastrophe that has killed more than 469 people and left hundreds missing.
The Nepalese disaster authority said a lake created at the site of the flooding was at risk of a potentially disastrous breach.
And China warned that water equivalent to 1,200 Olympic swimming pools is expected to flow into an already dammed lake on its side of the border over the next three days, creating a high risk of its banks bursting.
Basanta Raj Adhikari, the director of the Centre for Disaster Studies at the Tribhuvan University in Nepal, told the BBC that there was a risk that conditions worsen today or tomorrow, including landslides.
The situation on the ground has complicated rescue efforts, with at least 1,000 people still unaccounted for, including almost 650 foreigners and 33 British tourists swept up in Wednesday’s flooding caused by a glacier collapse.
The president of the Nepal Centre for Disaster Management said the disaster came at them like a “tsunami from the sky”.
“It’s such a huge debris, and everything on the way was completely washed out,” said Bishal Nath Upreti. “Villages along almost 40km to 50km [30 miles] were completely wiped out.”
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At least 469 people are dead and nearly 1,000 missing, according to local authorities.
Namita Singh28 August 2026 05:10
Sussex man’s wife, parents, brother and uncle missing
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Pramod Poudel said he believes ‘90 per cent’ of his family’s village has been swept awayJane Dalton28 August 2026 05:00
Torrent tore through border crossing
Chinese rescuers had yet to reach the worst-hit area on the Chinese side of the border, the Gyirong border crossing, by Thursday evening, state media reports indicated, as crews worked to clear debris from the key access road leading to the area.
The Gyirong border port has a key role in China’s Belt and Road network linking the country to South Asia, with logistics zones and parking lots built there in the past decade. Dramatic footage on Wednesday showed enormous torrents of muddy water and debris tearing through structures in the border crossing area within seconds and engulfing people trying to flee.
The tally of missing in Tibet’s Gyirong County was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals.
So far, just three people have been confirmed dead on the Chinese side. China’s Premier Li Qiang, the country’s No 2 official, arrived at the disaster-stricken site in Gyirong on Thursday afternoon, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
The visit suggested Beijing was treating the disaster as a matter of the highest national priority.
Namita Singh28 August 2026 04:54
Rescuers scour Nepal flood debris as risk of fresh flooding grows
Rescue teams using heavy machinery dug through mud and debris in Nepalese towns devastated by a flash flood two days ago, as hopes of finding survivors faded and officials worked to reduce the risk of fresh flooding.
The confirmed death toll in Nepal was at 469 people early on Friday, with hundreds more missing there and in neighbouring Tibet, near where a glacier collapse on Wednesday morning sent a huge torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris cascading through Himalayan mountain river systems.
The flood ripped through villages and valleys, destroying power stations, roads and bridges along a route that links Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet and is popular with trekkers and pilgrims.
Of those missing, at least 650 are foreigners. Authorities in Nepal used helicopters to search for survivors and drop emergency supplies to thousands cut off in towns and valleys, while emergency services – some using sniffer dogs – recovered dozens of bodies swept down into the plains.
Namita Singh28 August 2026 04:34
Nepal death toll jumps to 469
The death toll from the flash floods in Nepal has jumped to 469, said the police.
A glacier collapse on Wednesday morning sent a huge torrent of rock, ice, mud and debris cascading through Himalayan mountain river systems.
The flood ripped through villages and valleys, destroying power stations, roads and bridges along a route that links Kathmandu with Lhasa in Tibet and is popular with trekkers and pilgrims.
Namita Singh28 August 2026 04:11
Nepal and China warn of second flood from newly formed lakes
Nepal and China both warned on Thursday of fresh risks of flooding in the Himalayas as two lakes that have developed on either side of their border threaten to burst in a region still grappling with this week’s catastrophic flood.
Search -and-rescue operations are still under way in the debris-strewn valleys and hillsides for the more than 1,000 people still missing.
Both countries have blamed the flood on a glacier collapse that pushed rock, ice, mud and debris into river systems in the mountains.
Nepal’s disaster authority issued a notice on Thursday warning that a lake formed by debris blocking a river at the flood site is rising and at risk of bursting.
Jane Dalton28 August 2026 04:00
‘I’m broken – I have no one else,’ says sister of missing pilgrim
Many victims were pilgrims heading to Kailash Mansarovar, a high-altitude site in Tibet revered by Hindus and Buddhists.
Around the world, relatives of those missing were desperate for information about their loved ones.
Vasanthi Muniandy, whose sister Vennila was part of a Hindu pilgrimage group from Malaysia, said she had last heard from her after Vennila had crossed into Tibet from Nepal.
“I am totally broken. My sister is very important to me,” said Vasanthi. “I really want her to come back. I don’t have anyone but her. I just want her to come back home. I want her to be safe.”
Sagar Pandey, the chief executive of a Himalayan tourism operator, told Reuters after flying over the zone in a helicopter: “There are no human-made things, no human settlement left. Everything is just flat.
“So anyone in the hotel, the restaurant, or the car, I believe that everybody is gone.”
Jane Dalton28 August 2026 03:00
Bodies found 62 miles from disaster area
The Red Cross said entire villages in Nepal had been destroyed and impassable roads and bridges had left communities cut off.
Rescue teams located 100 missing Indian visitors, mostly pilgrims, and 25 Chinese workers in the worst-hit region around Trishuli.
The flood “came in suddenly and exploded like a bomb,” said survivor Janak Bahadur.
Ganesh Aryal, administrator of Chitwan district, said authorities had recovered 103 bodies from the river system in his district, which is about 62 miles away in the plains from the worst-hit region of Trishuli.
With local hospitals unable to accommodate all the bodies, district authorities were setting up tents and making arrangements for families to claim their dead relatives, he said.
Jane Dalton28 August 2026 02:00
Rescuers ‘yet to reach worst-hit area in China’
Chinese rescuers had yet to reach the worst-hit area on the Chinese side of the border, the Gyirong border crossing, by Thursday evening, state-media reports indicated.
Crews were working to clear debris from the key access road leading to the area.
All the buildings in the border-crossing complex, including the border gate, a stately building bearing China’s national emblem and housing customs and immigration agencies, were destroyed by the mudslide, footage showed.
The entire compound was reduced to an unrecognisable mass, caked in thick, muddy debris and almost devoid of any sign of civilisation, the footage showed.
The tally of missing in Tibet’s Gyirong County was 558, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Thursday, including 260 foreign nationals.
Jane Dalton28 August 2026 01:00
Watch: Terrifying CCTV shows people fleeing seconds before water engulfs Nepal-Tibet border
Terrifying CCTV shows people fleeing as floodwaters engulf Nepal border crossing
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