India warned about possibility of floods in Bihar, UP after artificial lake formed on Kali Gandaki River A river dammed up by a huge landslide in Nepal’s northwest has begun flowing again but the risks of flash floods are not over yet, the police said on Sunday. The landslide at Ramche village in Myagdi district, about 140 km northwest of Kathmandu, struck on Saturday night and blocked the Kali Gandaki river, triggering fears that a large volume of water would build up and then burst through, causing floods downstream that could reach as far as India. “The river has started overflowing the dam. The water build-up is no more rising,” the police official Kamal Singh Bam said. “We think it will not breach the dam suddenly and cause downstream floods. But the risk for that is not totally out yet,” he said. Earlier the authorities asked thousands of downstream villagers to move to safer areas amid concerns that the river could bring floods in the districts of Parbat, Syangja, Gulmi, Palpa, Nawalparasi and Chitwan. The river flows into India where it is known as the Gandak. A big earthquake hit Nepal on April 25, triggering numerous landslides and avalanches and killing more than 8,000 people. A second quake hit the mountainous country on May 12, killing scores. Nepal on Sunday alerted India of a possible flash floods in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh after massive landslides, likely triggered by recent devastating earthquakes, blocked Kali Gandaki River in western Nepal, creating a huge artificial lake. Authorities in India have been informed about the formation of the artificial lake, which could burst, leading to flash floods in Nepal as well as in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, said Hari Prasad Mainali, the chief district officer of Nepal’s Nawalparasi district, which borders India. “There are chances of the artificial lake created in the river by the landslide bursting any time. We have asked the Indian side to remain alert,” said Mr Mainali. Security personnel have been deployed on the river banks, urging people to remain alert as the artificial lake could burst at any time. Thousands of people in Nepal’s Myagdi district and surrounding areas have already fled to safety after the landslides buried dozen of houses. However, no casualties have been reported so far in the country. A new deep and growing lake has been formed on the Kali Gandaki River in Myagdi district, about 140 km from Kathmandu after landslides overnight. About 95 per cent flow of the river has stopped due to the landslides, which have created the artificial lake of about four-km-long and 200-metre-thick with about 1.5 million cubic litres of water, reports said. Kali Gandaki flows in central Nepal and northern India. It is formed by the union of the Kali and Trisuli rivers. It flows southwest into India and then turns southeast along the Uttar Pradesh-Bihar state border and across the Indo-Gangetic Plain as Gandak. Normally landslides are triggered by rain but in this case, the cracks formed by earthquake led the debris to fall.