Dammed lake bursts its banks, police say – Nepali police have said a dammed lake over the border in Tibet has burst its banks. Separately, ‌officials in Nepal’s Rasuwa district ‌said they had received notice of the incident, which was causing the level of water in the river ⁠to rise. Chinese state media earlier reported the lake had begun to overflow. A Nepal army official said rescue operations – which have been ongoing since Wednesday’s flash floods – had been stopped for the next 90 minutes.

‘Thousands of people would have been here when the floods hit’ – Our reporter Neville Lazarus is in the Dhunge Bazaar market in Nepal, where he says things are “unfolding by the hour”. The area, lying metres from a river, was the epicentre of Wednesday’s flash floods, with hundreds of business and homes swept away, he says. “It was a bustling bazaar which would have contained thousands of people on that morning.  “We just spoke to one of the residents who had a shop and his home here. He said 40 members of his extended family are missing, so you can imagine the scale that this town has faced.”

Rescue operations suspended after lake near China-Nepal border overflows – A lake that formed near to the China-Nepal border after Wednesday’s floods has overflowed, causing rescue operations in the area to be halted, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported. The incident brings risks of further flooding to the region after it was hit by the flash floods earlier this week. The lake formed upstream from Gyirong Port in Tibet after debris formed a dam and blocked a river at an earlier flood site.

Chinese authorities have warned three million cubic metres of water were expected to flow into the lake over the next three days, with peak flow expected ‌on 1 September.  Nepal ‘doesn’t need’ search and rescue support, foreign ministry says Nepal’s foreign ministry has said the country does not need help from other countries with search and rescue operations. It comes after local media in the country reported Nepal’s government turned down offers from China, India, the US, the UK, Japan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to allow their rescue teams to help.

“The offer for help is natural. Our security agencies are doing the search and rescue operation. For now we don’t require such help,” ministry spokesperson Lok Bahadur Chhetri said. The ministry said that instead of foreign rescue teams, Nepal wanted cash donations and financial aid. Where are the casualties? As we’ve been reporting, Nepalese police say 469 people have been killed in the floods. Police say these are the areas where the casualties have been recorded:

• Rasuwa – 12
• Dhading – 33
• Gorkha – 44
• Nawalparasi East – 110
• Nuwakot – 37
• Chitwan – 178
• Tanahun – 28
• Nawalparasi West – 27

In addition, 1,545 people have been injured and rescued by authorities in the following areas:

• Rasuwa – 644
• Nuwakot – 898
• Dhading – 3
• All tourists and affected residents evacuated from flood-affected Tibet, state media reports – China’s Xinhua news agency is reporting that residents affected by the floods in Gyirong County, Tibet, have been resettled and all stranded tourists have been transferred. It says 499 villagers and construction workers have been accommodated, while 555 tourists have been evacuated and transferred, adding that no tourists remain stranded. It is unclear if these figures overlap with data from Nepal. No further details were provided on the nationalities of the evacuated tourists. Death toll in Nepal jumps to 469 – police Nepalese police say the death toll in the floods has risen to 469. In the previous update yesterday (see 16:48 post), the number was at 389. Police have also provided details on the areas where the casualties are:

• Rasuwa – 12
• Dhading – 33
• Gorkha – 44
• Nawalparasi East – 110
• Nuwakot – 37
• Chitwan – 178
• Tanahun – 28
• Nawalparasi West – 27

It adds that 1,545 people have been injured and rescued by authorities, covering the following areas:

• Rasuwa – 644
• Nuwakot – 898
• Dhading – 3

Police also say 84 injured people are either currently receiving treatment or have been discharged across hospitals in the Kathmandu Valley. In Tibet, the death toll remains at three. ‘Flash flood destruction undeniable but true scale remains unclear’ – New images have emerged of the moment the devastation began in Nepal – and the aftermath. The receding waters revealed towns and villages cloaked in sediment, with many dwellings destroyed. Survivors have found themselves in desperate need of aid, with many thousands of residents left with nothing.

US sending aid to Nepal, Trump says – Donald Trump has told reporters in the White House he had spoken with Nepalese leaders and offered to provide “anything they want”. The US president says the flooding was “terrible to see”, describing how “strong, well-built buildings were wiped out like they were toothpicks”. Trump said there were 50 or 60 Americans in flood-affected areas, but added that a full accounting hasn’t been completed. The State Department has said 90 Americans were unaccounted for in Nepal and Tibet, but added it was not aware of any US deaths.

Yesterday, it also confirmed it was sending $500,000 (around £368,000) in relief aid, including emergency shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene assistance to affected communities. Explained: What causes landslides? The US Geological Survey (USGS) says that every landslide has multiple causes, but the Nepal region is known for previous glacier-related landslides that can cause flash floods. The land slips and comes crashing down when the downward forces (mainly gravity) exceed the strength of the materials comprising the slope. These factors weaken the slope composition and can cause landslides, according to USGS:

• Rainfall
• Snowmelt
• Earthquakes
• And human activity
• As we’ve reported earlier (see our 18:38 post), there have been warnings about the effects that climate change is having on glaciers in the region.
• There are fears that glaciers are melting faster than usual, weakening them and increasing the threat of landslides.
• Wednesday’s landslide was so vast that USGS said it registered as a 5.2 magnitude earthquake.
• The landslide also created blockages in rivers, which built up water levels before they were explosively released, causing some of the floods
• As our India reporter Neville Lazarus said earlier, there are still some blockages in place, meaning further flooding is possible.
• More than 600 tourists missing, tourism board says – Nepal’s Tourism Board says it has identified 667 missing tourists from the floods, including as many as 540 foreign nationals.

Neighbouring India says it had the highest number of missing people after the flood, with at least 288 unaccounted for in Nepal and another 200 stranded in China. China’s foreign ministry says nearly 100 of its nationals were missing in Nepal.

Other countries that have identified missing nationals include the UK, the US, Malaysia, Australia, Canada, Ukraine, South Korea, Russia, Germany, Latvia, South Africa, Japan and New Zealand. The tourism board added that 31 foreign nationals from India, South Korea, the US, Russia, Italy, Bulgaria, Switzerland and an unconfirmed nationality have been rescued from affected areas. Meanwhile in Tibet, Chinese state media says 558 people are missing, including 260 foreign nationals, but didn’t provide any details.

Courtesy: Sky News