DHADING, Nepal — Authorities in Nepal warned of possible fresh flooding on Sunday and urged residents in flood-affected districts to remain on high alert after water levels rose in the Bhotekoshi River.

Flood warning notices were sent to people’s phones early Sunday as rescue crews worked to clear a major highway connecting Kathmandu to one of the areas worst hit by Wednesday’s catastrophic floods, which killed at least 800 people and left more than 3,000 missing in Nepal and Tibet.

The flood was triggered by a glacier collapse that unleashed a catastrophic mudslide across the Himalayas on Wednesday.

The latest warnings came after Chinese authorities informed their Nepalese counterparts of increased water flow upstream, according to Dharam Raj Uprety, chief executive of Nepal’s National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority.

The Chinese state news agency Xinhua, citing the country’s water resources ministry, said a new lake formed after Wednesday’s floods high in the mountains had largely drained.

But Xinhua said the ministry warned that a crater located 5.6 kilometers (3.5 miles) upstream, which held an estimated 1.4 million cubic meters of water, still posed some risk and required close monitoring.

Nepal’s disaster agency said Sunday the death toll had climbed to 788 with 2,502 missing, while Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing on the Chinese side of the border.

Rescuers in both countries were racing on Sunday to find the thousands of people missing, as they faced challenging weather conditions and rising water levels.

Local police in Nepal told Reuters that residents and rescue workers had moved to higher ground after the Trishuli River’s water levels rose in recent hours following fresh rainfall, raising fears of additional flooding.

Rescue operations have been suspended several times since Friday because of bad weather and concerns that a lake formed across the Nepal-China border by the disaster could trigger fresh flooding after it began overflowing into Nepal’s Lhende Khola and Trishuli Rivers.

The missing include hundreds of people from over a dozen countries who were in the region to work, visit the mountains or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak. On Sunday, Chinese state media said 261 foreigners were missing in Tibet, including over a hundred Nepalis and others from around the world.

Hundreds said to be trapped inside tunnel

In Nepal, rescue efforts have increasingly focused on five hydropower projects inundated by the floods, including the Upper Trishuli complex, where authorities said on Friday they received information that around 350 people could be trapped inside a tunnel. About 10,000 Nepali troops have been deployed alongside specialist teams from China and........

© The Times of Israel