Night flood on the Muz-Suu sweeps away bridge; no casualties

TASH-BULAK — A flood from a glacial lake at the head of the Muz-Suu washed out a road bridge and one of the river’s two canal intakes on Friday night and damaged 14 houses in Tash-Bulak, in Talas District. No one was killed or injured.

The moraine dam of Muz-Köl, a small lake at about 3,300 meters on the tribal side of the Qara-Chik line, partly failed late on Friday, according to the Talas River Hydrological Monitoring Service. Herders camped below the lake raised the alarm by radio, and the warning reached the village about three hours before the water.

“We heard it before we saw it,” said Gulsara Sarieva, whose kitchen and yard were filled with mud and stones. Families moved to higher ground with their animals, and district police closed the valley road.

By Saturday morning gravel covered about 40 hectares of fields along the river. The district administration said water to farms served by the destroyed intake would be cut until a temporary channel could be dug. The hydrological service said it would ask the clan council on the upper river for access to inspect the lake.