Everything Was Swept Away, But Now Comes the Threat of a Second Flood: Captured on Video

[Anchor]

The massive torrent of water triggered by a glacial avalanche swallowed everything man-made. Now, warnings are emerging locally that a secondary catastrophic flood could occur.

Reporter Choi Go-un has the details.

[Reporter]

A border checkpoint connecting Nepal and China.

A massive wall of mud completely swallows an entire building.

A parking lot building where dozens of buses were gathered is smashed to pieces in an instant, just like a toy.

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

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

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

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

The tremor initially observed as an earthquake by the U.S. Geological Survey was also revealed to be a seismic-like phenomenon caused by the collapse of glacier and rock masses.

[Tang Chuan / Institute of Geological Hazard Prevention, Chengdu University of Technology: A waterfall-like mixture of glacier and rock poured down along the main valley, eroding the rocks in 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 (the 27th) clearly shows the debris blocking the river in the upstream area where the flood first began.

It is of such a massive scale that it cannot be easily removed, with the thickness of the debris flow at the edges reaching 1.5 meters.

[Chinese State-run CCTV Reporter: It has started to rain, and the aircraft is soaked. Despite the difficult situation, we are maintaining a low-altitude flight and heading to the disaster area.]

Concerns are rising that if water continues to accumulate in the affected section, it could collapse again under the pressure, delivering a major 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.