Archived event
Nepal says no dam collapse confirmed, as barrier lake accounts diverge and volume keeps rising
This briefing has been overtaken
It was published at 28 August 2026, 7:35 pm NPT and is kept online as the record of what was confirmed at that hour. Figures in it are no longer current.
Read the latest briefing: बागलुङमा सडकका कुकुर व्यवस्थापन गर्न ‘कुकुर होस्टेल’ · Current event summary
Nepal Police issued an alert on Friday saying Chinese authorities reported that the barrier lake near the Chhochen Khola and the Purepu Tsangpo, just across the border from Rasuwa, had burst. Rasuwa's Chief District Officer said a circular went out telling people along the riverbanks to stay safe, and the Nepali Army suspended rescue operations along the border for one and a half hours as a precaution, Onlinekhabar reports. Chinese authorities separately pulled their own rescue teams back a kilometre from the site.
The Kathmandu Post reported early Friday afternoon that the lake had breached, and NDRRMA flew aerial reconnaissance over Rasuwa to check the impact downstream. Rescue operations in Tibet later resumed after water levels at the lake dropped slightly, Chinese state media said, ABC News reports. China's state media then reported on Friday evening that a new glacial slip had sent about 50,000 cubic metres of ice and debris into the same lake, ABC News reports.
But Nepal's government has not confirmed that a dam or the lake itself collapsed. Government spokesperson and Education Minister Sasmit Pokharel said Friday that Nepal had only received word that glaciers had broken and sent water mixed with debris over the top, not that a dam had failed, and that China had indicated there was no immediate major threat. The Kathmandu Post says the two accounts, a reported breach and the government's more cautious version, have not been reconciled.
The lake's volume has also kept rising rather than falling. China's Ministry of Water Resources put it at about 2 million cubic metres on Thursday morning; by Friday evening it had grown to about 2.5 million cubic metres, ABC News reports. China had earlier warned that about 3 million more cubic metres of water was expected to flow into the lake over three days, with peak flow expected around 1 September, ABC News reports.
NDRRMA said separately on Friday that sediment laden water is rising again in the Bhotekoshi, two days after the first flood hit the same river. Spokesperson Shanti Mahat urged people living along the Bhotekoshi, and rescue and relief workers in the area, to stay on high alert and move to safer ground immediately if they see any sign of danger, Onlinekhabar reports.
Late Friday night, China's embassy said the lake was "at a high water level and has begun to overflow" and called the situation critical, ABC News reports. That came hours after Chinese state broadcaster CCTV had said the water level had dropped about 10 metres from its high point on Thursday morning and called the flood risk manageable, Reuters reported via CBS News. The two Chinese accounts, one hours apart from the other, have not been reconciled either, on top of the earlier dispute over whether the lake breached at all.
This is a new and separate risk on top of the flood that has already killed hundreds. Whichever account turns out to be right, if you live or work along the Bhote Koshi in Rasuwa, move away from the riverbank now and wait for officials to say it is clear.