A community is in mourning after catastrophic flash floods along the Nepal-China border on Wednesday.
“I was, you know, saddened, and so upset and worried about our people,” said Harish Hamal, a Nepali New Yorker NY1 met on Thursday at Nepali Bhanchha Ghar, a restaurant in Jackson Heights.
Videos of the disaster show water coming without warning, people running, and entire villages being buried. The flooding happened in a part of Nepal and China’s Tibet region that is a popular tourist destination.
Yamuna Shrestha, the owner of Nepali Bhanchha Ghar, said she called her sister back in Nepal, who informed her that their cousin was visiting a temple in the area when the floods hit. They’ve been unable to reach their cousin.
“She [was] going to visit [the] temple there, now missing,” said Shrestha. “All day I’m sad, I don’t know how to say.”
Yashoda Nepal said one of her extended family members, who was working on a hydropower plant in the flood-hit region, is also missing.
“This is painful situation. We cannot say anything. We are speechless,” said Nepal. “I feel so bad, heartbreaking situation.”
Mayor Zohran Mamdani released a statement on Thursday, saying in part, “Flooding along the Nepal-Tibet border has taken hundreds of lives, and the search for those still missing continues.
To our Nepali and Tibetan neighbors: this city knows what it means to grieve a place you left and still call home. You are not carrying this alone. New York City stands with you.”
As the scale of the damage becomes clearer, some Nepali New Yorkers say they believe the country will rebuild, even if it takes years.
“Nepali people are very strong people; they help each other; they have a great mindset,” said Hamal.
The United Nations’ humanitarian chief described the floods as “horrifying.” The U.N. said it has allocated $2 million from its emergency response fund to help with medical care, shelter and water.
When it comes to the breakdown of nationalities of the hundreds of foreigners who are missing, most are Indian citizens, followed by American citizens.