Nepal-Tibet flash flood: helicopter rescue operations suspended as lake overflows; death toll rises to 469

Rescuers have evacuated 555 stranded tourists from Tibet, Chinese state media reported on Friday.

State broadcaster CCTV said 499 local residents, as well as 555 tourists, had been transported out of the disaster zone as of Friday morning.

It did not specify the tourists’ nationalities.

Chinese authorities have 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”, according to state media.

“According to forecasts, inflows into the lake could reach about 3 million cubic meters over the next three days amid continued rainfall, increasing the risk of a breach that could send flood waters downstream and potentially cause further damage in areas including Gyirong Port and elsewhere downstream”, state news agency Xinhua reported late on Thursday.

Nepal has 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. It did not name the specific site.

It comes as rescue teams and military helicopters continue their search for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous border, with the Red Cross saying about 93,000 people might have been affected. The aid agency launched an emergency appeal for $31m to respond to the disaster.

Also today:

• Rescue teams and military helicopters are searching for hundreds of missing people along the mountainous Nepal-Tibet border after the huge torrent of water and mud swept through communities following a glacier collapse on Wednesday.

• More than 390 people were killed, authorities in Nepal and China said, and more than 1,400 were missing, including hundreds of foreign citizens and pilgrims.

• More than 500 foreign citizens were among 826 people missing in Nepal, police and tourism ⁠officials said. Among those unaccounted for were 177 from India, 90 from the US, 39 from Australia, 33 from Britain and 25 from Canada.

• Chinese state media said at least 558 were missing on the Tibet side of the border, of whom at least 260 were foreign nationals.

• 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.

• US president Donald Trump said the flooding was terrible to see, describing how “strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks”.

• Nepalese officials said dozens of bridges were destroyed and nearly 40km of roads damaged, complicating search efforts.

• The Nepalese army had rescued more than 100 people by helicopter, an army spokesperson said. Army teams also evacuated people trapped inside facilities linked to the Trishuli hydropower project, he said. Dozens of injured people were transported to Kathmandu for medical care.

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

• The Nepal Red Cross Society said the agency has shifted its focus from rescue to large-scale relief operations in the flood-hit districts.

• China’s premier, Li Qiang, arrived in Gyirong on Thursday to direct rescue efforts, alongside 500 military and paramilitary personnel.