'Panicked': Nepali migrants reveal scale of destruction

Catastrophic flash floods have torn through towns in Nepal and China, leaving migrants in Australia scrambling to make contact with family.

Thirty-four Australians are missing and at least 162 people have died along the Himalayan border after a wall of mud and rock collapsed into a river on Wednesday.

Rescue efforts to find hundreds more missing are ongoing to minimise loss of life and find those cut off from friends and family.

Members of the Australian Nepali community are anxiously awaiting news from back home.

Nepali migrant Kiran Thapa, 46, was working from his Sydney office on Wednesday afternoon when his wife called with news of the disaster.

They immediately set to work getting in touch with family in the flood-hit Nuwakot District, along the Trishuli River, badly damaged by flooding.

His family has since been found, having relocated to higher ground, clear of the muddy waters that inundated their homes, including his own.

But his nephew’s two daughters, aged nine and seven, remain trapped in a town across the river, sheltering in their school.

“All the bridges (have) collapsed, so there’s no way of getting there,” he said.

“They’re being taken care of ... but still we cannot come and bring them on this side because the only way to get them back is by helicopter.”

It’s an experience shared by many across Australia, including Melbourne-based Shyam Rana, who spent the night speaking with family in Nepal.