Rescuers reached previously inaccessible areas of Nepal and Tibet on Friday as the death toll from devastating floods and mudslides rose to at least 579, with nearly 1,924 people still missing.

The disaster struck the Himalayan border region between Nepal and China's Tibet on Wednesday, sending torrents of water, ice, rocks and debris through river valleys, destroying homes, roads and other infrastructure.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) estimated that around 93,000 people may have been affected, warning that the death toll could rise as rescue teams reach isolated communities.

“The trauma of this event is enormous,” said David Fisher, the IFRC’s head of delegation for Nepal. He said destroyed roads and bridges, along with disruptions to telecommunications and electricity, had prevented rescuers from reaching some of the worst-hit areas.

In Nepal, the army said it had located more than 100 people trapped near the Trishuli 3A hydropower project and was working to evacuate them.

Army spokesman Raja Ram Basnet said around 350 workers and residents had already been rescued, while two helicopters were deployed to assist the operation.

Rescuers were facing difficulties locating tunnel entrances after the floods and debris flows devastated the area.

The disaster was triggered by a massive collapse of ice, rock and debris that swept through river valleys near the Nepal-Tibet border. According to the US Geological Survey, the resulting flooding and debris flow traveled nearly 100 kilometers along the Trishuli and Bhote Koshi rivers, destroying infrastructure and severing a major highway connecting Nepal and China.

On the Chinese side, professional rescue teams from Tibet and neighboring Sichuan province reached the main disaster zone on Friday, according to China's Xinhua news agency.

Chinese state media reported that 499 residents and 555 tourists had been evacuated from the affected area. The nationalities of the tourists were not immediately disclosed.

China had temporarily suspended some rescue operations after a lake formed by accumulated debris began overflowing, raising concerns about further flooding downstream. Authorities later said the threat was declining and that rescue efforts were continuing in an orderly manner.

Nepalese authorities nevertheless urged residents in potentially affected areas to move to higher ground after reports that a dam in Tibet had burst. It remained unclear whether the reported dam incident was connected to the overflowing lake.

The flooding also affected areas downstream in India, where authorities said seven bodies believed to be linked to the disaster had been recovered from rivers flowing from Nepal.

With thousands of people missing and communications cut off in some areas, emergency teams continued searching for survivors and assessing the scale of the destruction.

Nepal has appealed for international financial assistance to help deal with the disaster but said its emergency services were currently capable of conducting rescue operations without foreign rescue teams.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Lok Bahadur Chhetri said Nepal would seek specialized assistance or expertise if necessary.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has offered Beijing’s assistance as Nepal continues its search-and-rescue operations.

Authorities and humanitarian organizations warned that the full scale of the disaster may not yet be known, as rescuers continue to reach communities that have remained isolated since Wednesday’s catastrophic floods and mudslides. (ILKHA)