Another Glacial Lake Formed at Higher Altitude... Fears of 'Secondary Floods' Persist

[Anchor]

In the high-altitude Himalayan region where the recent massive floods began, another barrier lake—a natural dam created by collapsed glaciers and debris—has been additionally spotted. Although the water level of this barrier lake has dropped compared to yesterday (the 28th), the situation remains far from reassuring.

Reporter Son Hyeong-an has more.

[Reporter]

This is satellite footage captured on the 28th local time in the high-altitude border region between Nepal and China, where the catastrophic floods originated.

A barrier lake is visible, formed by the accumulation of debris from the glacier and rock collapse that triggered massive floods four days ago.

And further up at a higher elevation to the southeast on the satellite imagery, another barrier lake is observed.

It appears more rectangular and larger in scale than the first barrier lake, and scenes of glacial and melted snow water flowing into it were also captured.

Earlier yesterday, the barrier lake located at an altitude of 2,950 meters overflowed, prompting evacuation orders and crisis alerts to be issued across downstream affected areas.

The water level of the problematic barrier lake is reportedly about 10 meters lower than its peak yesterday.

[Phoenix Television Report : (According to on-site observations) The water level of the barrier lake has dropped by more than 10 meters. The hazardous situation appears to have eased significantly.]

Additional footage of the initial glacier and rock collapse beneath Mount Langtang Lirung, which caused the recent floods, was also released. The collapse of the glacier and surrounding rocks sliced through the ground like tofu, and analysis showed that a lake spanning 120,000 square meters was formed below the initial collapse point.

[Chen Hongqi / China Geological Hazard Technical Guidance Center, Ministry of Natural Resources : The risk of secondary disasters is extremely high. I want to emphasize that aside from the barrier lake, a funnel-shaped body of water actually exists below the point where the glacial collapse began.]

Chinese authorities have set up an observation post manned by five people for real-time monitoring, and Nepal is also mobilizing helicopters to monitor the water level of the barrier lake, remaining on high alert and preparing for potential contingencies against the possibility of secondary floods.

Video Editing: Jung Sung-hoon | Design: Kim Min-young
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.