The death toll from catastrophic flooding in Nepal and China rose over 1,000 on Tuesday, authorities said, as rescue teams worked to reach communities cut off by the disaster.

Nepal's disaster agency said Tuesday that 987 deaths had been counted there, with 3,916 people missing, including 583 foreigners. Chinese authorities, in their latest update on Sunday, reported 16 deaths and 546 people still missing, including 261 foreigners.

Workers shoveled thick mud from a flood-ravaged power station in central Nepal, trying to revive a key node that supplies electricity to more than 20,000 people. But as they cleared debris from equipment buried by last week's catastrophic floods, there was hope the plant would not simply be rebuilt in the same place, beside the river that destroyed it.

In Nepal, up to 900 workers are unaccounted for from a dozen hydropower projects, according to the Independent Power Producers' Association, Nepal, with hundreds believed trapped in tunnels. In Nepal and China combined, over 900 people have died and 4,700 are missing.

Rescuers were trying to find trapped workers in at least a dozen hydroelectric plant sites Monday after catastrophic flooding in Nepal and Tibet killed at least 900 people and left more than 4,700 missing.

Multiple foreign teams were assisting local rescuers to find workers in multiple tunnels at Nepal's power plants on the rivers that flooded last Wednesday.

Tropical Storms Karina and Lowell formed Thursday in the Pacific Ocean, both of which were expected to become hurricanes in the next few days, the National Hurricane Center said.

Tropical Storm Karina was located about 825 miles (1,330 kilometers) south of the southern tip of Baja California, with maximum sustained winds of around 45 mph (75 kph), according to an advisory from the Miami-based hurricane center. Tropical Storm Lowell was about 1,765 miles (2,840 kilometers) west-southwest of the tip of Baja California, with maximum sustained winds of around 40 mph (65 kph).

A new study suggests that El Ninos — the natural climatic chaos agent that pops up periodically and spikes global temperatures — are getting stronger because of human-caused climate change.

El Ninos are more than 36% stronger than they were before the industrial age began in the mid 1800s, with a 16% jump in just the last 40 years showing that the increase is accelerating, according to a study in Thursday's journal Science. The findings come as a strong El Nino that formed a couple months ago is forecast to be the biggest on record in coming months. El Ninos, which are a temporary warming of parts of the equatorial Pacific, warp weather worldwide and increase extreme events, including heat waves, floods in some places and droughts in others. They can cost trillions in damage.

Rescuers pulled out survivors caked in dark brown mud and helicopters lifted stranded people to safety Friday as Nepal and China raced to respond to catastrophic flash floods that killed more than 470 people and left more than 1,500 missing.

Nepal authorities said the death toll there rose to 469, injured people were taken to hospitals and helicopters carried more than 3,000 people to safety. In contrast on the Chinese side, there was little information on survivors, although the death toll rose to five Friday, as state media showed evacuations of villages and leaders' efforts to direct relief efforts.

The deadly flash flood in Nepal on Wednesday was likely caused by a huge chunk of a glacier that broke off and temporarily dammed a river, according to preliminary investigations by scientists. That may have led to the backed-up water surging downstream with enormous force a few hours later, they suggested.

Scientists are still piecing together information from satellite and ground-level data to figure out exactly what happened to cause the flood, which killed at least 353 people and left more than 1,300 missing, including foreigners and pilgrims.

Torrential rain struck Japan's north-central prefectures of Ishikawa and Toyama on Thursday, triggering flooding and landslides, closing roads and stranding people in flooded homes and vehicles.

The Japan Meteorological Agency issued the Level 5 heavy rain warning for parts of the Ishikawa and Toyama prefectures, urging residents in the affected areas to take precautionary measures against possible flooding and landslides.

Rescue teams searched on Thursday for hundreds of missing people along the Nepal-China border after a catastrophic and deadly torrent of floods and mud swept through several communities a day earlier following a glacier collapse.

The disaster left at least 168 people dead and more than 1,300 missing, including foreigners and pilgrims, and displaced hundreds of people across the Himalayan region.

Hundreds of people were reported missing after an avalanche of ice and rock triggered massive flash floods that swept through parts of Nepal on Wednesday, killing at least eight people and causing widespread damage to villages and infrastructure.

Officials said 384 tourists, including 291 from countries including India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Malaysia, were reported missing as a result of the flash flood.