KATHMANDU, Nepal — Rescue teams in Nepal and China searched for hundreds of people Friday after catastrophic flash floods killed more than 500 people and left more than 1,500 missing, while authorities warned that a newly formed Himalayan lake could trigger additional flooding.
Nepal’s disaster management authority reported 538 deaths Friday, while police later raised the toll to 547. Authorities said 977 people remained unaccounted for in Nepal, while Chinese state media reported five deaths and 558 missing people on the Chinese side.
Rescuers have evacuated thousands of people from affected areas. Nepal’s disaster management authority said helicopters had airlifted 3,253 people, while more than 3,700 people had been rescued overall.
Authorities placed rescue and relief teams on high alert after a barrier lake formed at an elevation of about 9,680 feet following the collapse of a glacier and surrounding rock. Officials warned that the lake had begun overflowing and could send more water and debris into downstream areas.
Nepali police also reported Friday that a dam on the Tibet side had burst, although officials had not established whether the incident was connected to the newly formed lake.
In Nepal’s Rasuwa district, army rescuers continued searching for more than 100 people believed trapped inside a tunnel at the Upper Trishuli-1 Hydropower Project. The army said it had already rescued 350 people from the tunnel, where mud had covered the entry and exit points.
“Our first priority is rescuing the stranded people,” army spokesperson Brig. Gen. Raja Ram Basnet said.
The floods began Wednesday after a major collapse beneath a Himalayan glacier sent rocks, meltwater and debris into river valleys, according to scientists who analyzed satellite imagery.
The disaster swept away buildings, bridges and sections of roads in parts of Tibet and Nepal, leaving communities cut off from one another.
Customs officer Karbir Gaire said he felt the ground shake before seeing what he described as a “black storm” moving toward his village of Timure near the China border.
Gaire escaped with several others, but 15 of his colleagues remain missing.
The disaster also affected foreign nationals who were working, trekking or traveling on pilgrimage in the region. Nepal’s tourism board said more than 500 foreigners remained missing.
About 90 Americans were also unaccounted for, according to U.S. officials.
Families in several countries continued waiting for information about missing relatives as rescue crews worked through mud and debris.
Some travelers had been visiting Mount Kailash in Tibet, a site considered sacred by Hindus, Buddhists and followers of other faiths.
