Battar, Nepal:
In Nepal’s Battar, many people have been unaccounted for and the people are desperate for information. Exploring the valley of the Trishuli river, where a massive flash flood had washed away entire villages earlier this week, NDTV found hundreds of people desperate for information on their loved ones.
About what has forced that water mass to move, mountaineer Sanjit Singh Balsaid it looks like a glacial event.
“A glacier of some proportion, approximately a kilometer or so in size, probably broke off, approximately at the height of about 5,000 something meters and then travelled downwards,” he said.
On the way, it possibly encountered certain water bodies, but definitely collecting a lot of debris on the way especially because of the steep terrain it travelled.
“By the time it reached the border crossing on the Tibet side, there was probably a drop about 3,000 meters or so till it got there. And you see the gorge size, the way how narrow it is, and it channelized that entire energy all the way downwards, including the entire effect of that glacier coming down with whatever water bodies or other debris it collected,” he added .
Dhananjay Regmi, Nepal Himalayan Glacier & Mountain Researcher, told NDTV that the flow of mass of water was 300 km per hour — higher than previous estimates. Three lakes have now been formed in the area and the threat of another flood remains imminent.
Any fresh rockfall can result in a cascading impact across all three lakes. The only way to avoid it is a controlled release of water and there is no info that that is happening yet. For now, the only possible move is to move people to high ground and wait.
Asked if the rising global temperature was responsible for event, Ashutosh Mishra, Managing partner of Snowscapes, said the initial suspicion was that there was a gulf in one of the three lakes.
“But later on data came in that actually those lakes were not the real culprit,” he said. Satellite pictures made it clear that an area as large as two square kilometers on the northern glacier of Langtang Lerung — a 7,000 meter peak — had collapsed.
For now, the people hit by the floods are not worrying about the cause. Or even a second flood.
One of the men looking for his brother, said, “Whether our men are there or not, whoever they are, let’s save them. Even if our men aren’t there, let’s save their friends”.
(3:59) Our other son and brother, let’s save them too. (4:02) Let’s save whoever is there.
Asked if any other of his relaties are missing, the man carring his brother’s photograph, answered in the negative.
“We have only one brother. But the other Nepalis are our brothers,” he added.
