Nepal authorities issued fresh flood warnings on Sunday after water levels rose in the Bhotekoshi River, urging people in districts already devastated by the August 26 floods to remain on high alert.
Emergency alerts were sent directly to residents’ phones early Sunday, reviving fears in communities still struggling to recover from the catastrophic flooding.
The warnings came as rescue teams continued working to clear a major highway linking Kathmandu with one of the areas worst affected by the floods. The disaster has killed at least 800 people across Nepal and Tibet, with hundreds more still unaccounted for.
Nepal’s disaster agency said the death toll in the country had risen to 788, while 2,502 people remained missing.
On the Chinese side of the border, authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 people missing. The figures underline the scale of the disaster across the mountainous region.
Meanwhile, rescue crews have continued efforts to restore access to areas cut off or badly damaged by the floods, including along the key highway connecting Kathmandu to one of the worst-hit regions.
The latest alerts followed information from Chinese authorities about increased water flow upstream, according to Dharam Raj Uprety, chief executive of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.
China’s state news agency Xinhua, citing the country’s water resources ministry, reported that a new lake formed high in the mountains following Wednesday’s floods had largely drained.
However, authorities warned that the danger had not completely passed.
Xinhua reported that a crater located about 5.6 kilometres (3.5 miles) upstream still posed a risk. The crater was estimated to hold about 1.4 million cubic metres (370 million gallons) of water and authorities said it required close monitoring.
The latest phone alerts have added to the uncertainty facing residents of villages already severely affected by the floods. Communities that have spent days dealing with the destruction are now being asked to prepare for another potential rise in water levels.
For people still recovering from the initial disaster, the repeated warnings have brought renewed anxiety. Authorities have urged residents to remain vigilant as rescue and recovery operations continue across the affected areas.
