According to a Reuters report, the risk of a barrier lake bursting near the China-Nepal border, where a devastating flood occurred earlier in the week, has diminished as the lake’s size appears to have decreased. Satellite imagery from Thursday to Saturday morning indicates that water in the lake, located at the confluence of two rivers straddling the border, has been slowly flowing through, gradually reducing the reservoir’s size. The Water Resources Ministry reported that the lake’s surface area at the Purepu Tsangpo river was 99,000 square meters on early Saturday morning, a reduction of 21,000 square meters compared to Thursday’s measurements ¹.

Despite the decreased risk, authorities remain vigilant about potential secondary disasters in the valley, particularly concerning another larger body of water at the base of the glacier collapse. Chen Hongqi, a senior engineer at the Ministry of Natural Resources’ Geological Disaster Technical Guidance Center, estimated this second lake’s area to be over 120,000 square meters, though its depth remains unknown. Flood risks are expected to persist until both lakes are fully drained, according to an official from Nepal’s Disaster Management Authority ¹.

Footnotes

1. Reuters. “Risk of lake burst near China-Nepal border disaster site wanes.” Yahoo News. August 29, 2026. https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/risk-lake-burst-near-china-061012571.html ↩ ↩²

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