Originally published at The Crux
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Flash flooding killed at least 160 people in Nepal on Wednesday.
Hundreds of people – tourists, workers and others – are missing in the wake of the devastating event that swept through communities near the Himalayan nation’s border with China.
On the Chinese side, the official state broadcaster reported at least three people dead and 265 people missing in Tibet’s Gyirong County.
The apostolic administrator of the Nepal vicariate told Crux Now the flood originated in Tibet and flowed downstream into Nepal, washing away villages and homes in four districts.
“We have 25 Catholic families, who are safe,” for the moment, said Fr. Silas Krishna Bogati, “but there were huge casualties,” in the affected area.
Bogati also reported that a priest of the vicariate, Fr. James Britto, was left stranded.
“[He] had gone to celebrate Mass to the other side of the river,” Bogati said, “but cannot return to his mission station as roads and bridges have been washed away.”
At least 19 bridges and nearly 25 miles of roadway were destroyed in the flash flood, which struck when it was roughly 9 o’clock in the morning in Nepal.
The affected area sits along a pilgrimage route, and Nepali
