At least 360 people have died and hundreds more remain unaccounted for after devastating floods and mudslides hit parts of Nepal.

The disaster began on Wednesday and has caused widespread destruction across affected communities, with homes and entire towns swept away by floodwaters and mudslides.

Keshav Kadel, who migrated to Australia from Nepal’s Chitwan district, told AAP that the situation in his hometown was becoming increasingly devastating as bodies were recovered from the river.

“What’s happening in my town is that bodies are now flowing in the river,” he said.

“They have slid all the way down and people are pulling bodies from the river.”

Chitwan sits further along the Trishuli River than areas such as Gorkha and Rasuwa that were more directly in the path of the flooding.

The location gave residents more time to flee to higher ground, but the district has still recorded deaths as bodies were carried downstream.

Nepalese community mourns

As the disaster unfolds, Nepalese communities in Australia have gathered to mourn those killed and pray for those still missing.

In Melbourne, members of the Nepalese community gathered at the Australian Nepalese Multicultural Centre, where families held prayers and observed a minute’s silence.

Candles were placed beside a hand-crafted display of dyed rice spelling out “pray for Nepal” as members of the community came together to remember those affected.

The centre’s secretary, Sudhir Shakya, said the Nepalese diaspora was united in grief, hope and prayer.

“Behind every number is a person – a mother, a father, a son, a daughter, a relative, a friend, and someone deeply loved.

Former Australian race discrimination commissioner Chin Tan also addressed those gathered, saying the grief extended beyond the Nepalese community.

“Today, all Australians are Nepalis, because our grief is yours.

Similar gatherings were held across Australia, including a candle vigil in Rockdale in Sydney’s south.

Destruction compared with 2015 earthquake

The scale of the flooding has drawn comparisons with Nepal’s devastating 2015 earthquake, which killed nearly 9,000 people.

While the current death toll is not as high, Mr Kadel said the impact on individual towns and communities was particularly severe.

“The gravity of the situation is worse now because whole towns have swept away,” he said.

“Now there is nothing, it’s just a mudslide.”

From Melbourne, Mr Kadel has been following the disaster largely through social media.

He said he had been unable to bring himself to call people in the affected region because of the fear of what he might hear.

“I didn’t have the courage to do that,” he said.

The disaster has also affected Australians, with Nepalese authorities reporting that at least 35 Australians remained missing at the time of the AAP report.

Source: AAP Newsroom