BEIJING, Aug 28 (Reuters) – China is racing to reduce the risk of a barrier lake burst that threatens to induce more flooding at the disaster-stricken border crossing linking its Tibet region to Nepal, potentially compounding the calamity which has killed hundreds since Wednesday.
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 collapse in a region still grappling with this week’s catastrophic flood.
Chinese authorities have mobilised an eight-member engineering team to conduct aerial surveys and 3D modelling of the barrier lake, according to state broadcaster CCTV on Friday.
One of the engineers, Chen Hanxiao, said challenges included difficult access to the site.
“After the glacier collapse created the lake, many isolated cliffs and steep cliffs appeared along it,” Chen told CCTV on Thursday evening.
Chen said the general approach to reducing the lake’s threat is to excavate a drainage channel at a lower point of the dam but the width and depth of that channel needed calculations based on how fast the water will flow and how quickly the lake will fill.
Data from their survey found that the lake was about 150 metres long and 40-50 metres deep with a reservoir of 1.5-2 million cubic metres of water.
Their next tasks were to monitor the lake and collect data from the lake floor, as well as weather monitoring in the coming days.
The Gyirong border port area has seen light to moderate rainfall which has loosened and destabilised soil and rock surrounding the precarious zone upstream. The rain is forecast to continue over the coming week.
China on Thursday warned that 3 million cubic meters of water — the equivalent of about 1,200 Olympic swimming pools — are expected to flow into the still-dammed lake over the next three days, creating a high risk of a breach, with peak flow expected around September 1.
The formation of a barrier lake was captured in aerial footage by a Chinese rescue team shown by state broadcaster CGTN. It showed masses of brown water accumulating in a basin with no visible outlet, that had already submerged bushes and trees and appeared to push against a barrier of debris and stones.
Nearly 1,000 remain missing on both sides of the border, including as many as 540 foreigners from 31 countries, according to officials.
(Reporting by Liz Lee, Qiaoyi Li and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
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