According to a source at the Swiss Embassy, which supports the project, the monitoring equipment was supposed to send data to authorities, but in late September the cameras lost power for an unknown reason.
As climate change warms high mountain regions, many communities are facing dangerous glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). Lakes storing water from melted glaciers can fill and burst after heavy rains, causing torrential rains in mountain valleys.
According to research by 2022, more than 200 such lakes now pose a huge threat to Himalayan communities in India, Pakistan, China, Nepal and Bhutan.
In recent years, glacial flood early warning systems have been deployed in Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan. Sources told Reuters that Lhonak Lake and another early warning system at nearby Shako Cho in Sikkim were among the first warning systems in India for floods coming from a glacial lake.
Scientists have said for years that both lakes are at risk of flooding, but time passed without progress as the design process and search for funding progressed.