A 7 km (4 miles) lake in northern Pakistan, created by a mountain mud slip, threatens to potentially explode and unleash the “catastrophic” floods, the authorities warned on Saturday.
The mud flow descended to the main channel of the Ghizer River and blocked it completely on Friday, creating the lake in the province of Gilgit Baltistan, said the National Disaster Management Authority.
The blockade created a “structure similar to the dam” that raises a significant threat of exploding, he said in a situation report by his provincial office.
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The new lake “can cause a catastrophic flood,” said Zakir Hussain, general director of the Provincial Authority for Disaster.
Four downstream districts – Ghizer, Gilgit, Astore and Diamer – face a serious threat, he told Reuters.
Ghizer is north of the mountains of the mountains in the northwest of Pakistan, where the floods caused by this year’s worst monzone rains have killed almost 400 people since August 15.
A video shared by the national authority in a WhatsApp group where it issues statements shows the black mud sliding through the mountain before landing in the river. Reuters could not independently verify the video, that an authority official said he was filmed by residents.
Similar mud flows landed in the river from different mountain shortages, said provincial government spokesman Faizullah Faraq.
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A shepherd in a superior terrain, the first to detect the mud flow crashed, alerted the villagers and the local authorities, he said. As a result of the warning, he said, almost 200 people in dozens of hidden scattered houses on the shore of the mountains and the surroundings of the river were rescued.
The lake has begun to download water, which means that the threat of an explosion is going back, but sudden floods in the subsequent districts cannot be discarded until the lake is completely clear, Faraq said.
The downstream communities have been ordered to remain on a maximum alert and vacate areas along the river, he said.
Floods throughout Pakistan killed 785 since the monsoon began at the end of June, the national authority said, warning of two more rain spells before September 10.
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