Everything Swept Away, Now Facing 'Secondary Flood Risk': Captured on Video

[Anchor]

The massive torrent of water triggered by a glacial landslide swallowed everything in its path made by humans. Now, warnings are emerging that a second catastrophic flood could strike the area.

Reporter Choi Go-un has the details.

[Reporter]

A border checkpoint connecting Nepal and China.

A massive wave of mud swallows entire buildings whole.

A parking structure where dozens of buses were gathered is instantly crushed as if it were a toy.

Nothing could withstand the muddy tsunami that swept down the canyon at high speed accompanied by a deafening roar.

[Flood Witness: It looked like the current was moving at 20 meters per second. The flood struck in such a short time that the chances of escaping were extremely low.]

The cause of the catastrophic flood, which occurred despite clear weather without heavy rain, is attributed to a glacial collapse.

In the high-altitude border region between Nepal and China, large-scale glaciers and rocks collapsed due to the effects of climate change, blocking the river's flow. The temporary "glacial dam" created this way could no longer hold and suddenly collapsed, causing a massive volume of water and sediment to rush downstream all at once.

The tremors initially identified as an earthquake by the U.S. Geological Survey were also revealed to be earthquake-like phenomena caused by the collapse of glacier and rock masses.

[Tang Chuan / Institute of Geological Hazard Mitigation, Chengdu University of Technology: Water mixed with glaciers and rocks cascaded down like a waterfall along major valleys, eroding rocks along its path and triggering a massive debris flow, resulting in a large-scale disaster.]

The bigger problem is the risk of a secondary flood.

Aerial footage filmed today captures the debris blocking the river in the upstream area where the flood first began.

The debris flow is so massive that it cannot be easily removed, with the edges reaching a thickness of 1.5 meters.

[Chinese State Media CCTV Reporter: It has started raining, and the aircraft is soaked. Despite the difficult conditions, we are maintaining a low-altitude flight as we head to the disaster area.]

Concerns are rising that if water continues to accumulate in that section, it may not withstand the pressure and collapse once again, dealing a severe blow to the already difficult rescue and recovery operations.

(Video Editing: Wi Won-yang, Design: Seo Seung-hyun)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.