SHIMLA, June 26: Thousands of people were evacuated on Sunday in India’s northern Himachal Pradesh state after a breach in an artificial lake in neighbouring Tibet threatened downstream villages, officials said.

A flood warning was issued as the level of the Parechu river, which flows from China’s Tibet to India, rose 40 to 50 feet (12-15 metres) after an artificial lake formed by a landslide breached its banks, said Amandeep Garg, a senior official in the Himachal Pradesh state government.

Indian officials evacuated residents in the Sutlej river valley, 400 kilometres north of the state capital Shimla, as a precaution, Garg said.

No injuries have been reported but Garg said three makeshift bridges were destroyed on Sutlej tributaries north of the town of Kalpa, the start of the Sutlej river valley in Himachal Pradesh.

By late Sunday the waters had reached the town of Rampur in the Sutlej river valley and flooded low-lying areas which had already been evacuated, a state official said.

“We have informed the Indian home ministry, just in case there is a further rise in the waters of the Sutlej and the army’s help is needed,” said Surjit Singh Parmar, the top official in the Himachal Pradesh state government.—AFP