Two buses crashed in the Himalayas and flooding at the Three Gorges Dam

In Nepal, the search is on for dozens of people missing in a river due to landslides triggered by torrential rains. In China, there is concern along the course of the Yangtze, with six deaths already reported in the metropolis of Chongqing, but there is also alarm over record levels in the reservoir of the huge sluice built after forcibly displacing hundreds of thousands of people.

Kathmandu (/Agencies) – Dozens of people are missing in Nepal after landslides swept two buses full of passengers into the Trishuli River. In the People’s Republic of China, at least six people have died as a result of flooding in the metropolis of Chongqing, and concern is growing over the rising water level in the basin of the Three Gorges Dam, one of the largest in the world. This is the latest news on the torrential rains that continue to devastate large areas of Asia with unprecedented violence this monsoon season.

The most serious news comes from Nepal, where two buses packed with passengers disappeared in the Trishuli River at around 3.30 am this morning after a landslide on the Narayanghat-Mugling route in Simaltal area of ​​Chitwan district. According to the authorities, one of the buses, operated by Ganapati Deluxe, was heading to Gaur Rautahat from Kathmandu with around 41 passengers. The other, operated by Angel Deluxe, was travelling to Kathmandu from Birgunj and was said to have around 24 passengers on board. While the search by rescue teams continues, it has been reported that only three people managed to save themselves by jumping off one of the buses that was being carried away by the current.

Nepal has been dealing with monsoon disasters for days now. In Kaski district alone, 11 people were killed in multiple landslides last night. Even before this morning’s disaster, police statistics reported 103 deaths nationwide due to landslides and floods.

In China, however, it is the course of the Yangtze River (the so-called Blue River) in the south-west of the country that is causing the greatest concern. Six people died yesterday due to heavy rain in Dianjiang County, in the vast metropolis of Chongqing. In this area, rainfall reached a record level of 269.2 mm in a single day, causing serious problems for more than 40,000 people.

The giant Three Gorges Dam in Hunan province is also causing concern once again, where the water level reached 161.1 metres, the highest ever recorded in July since the plant came into operation in 2012. At 185 metres high and more than 2 kilometres wide, the huge dam can hold 39.3 billion cubic metres of water and generate electricity equivalent to 20 nuclear power plants. It took 18 years to build and make fully operational – strongly defended by Beijing despite the controversy over its environmental impact and the forced displacement of 1.3 million people.

Now the Changjiang Water Resources Commission, a department specializing in flood prevention on the Yangtze River, has issued an alert because the level could rise even further with new waves of flooding that will focus on the Three Gorges Dam basin around July 16, according to state broadcaster CCTVThe commission decided to increase the outflow from the basin, a measure that could further aggravate the situation in the lower reaches of the Yangtze.

Photo: Flickr / Pedro Vasquez Colmenares