Nepal-Tibet floods: Deep, thick mud that can catch you in a moment hampers search and rescue efforts

In Australia, we’re used to floods that build after days of rain, with rivers rising, warnings being issued and communities given time to get out.

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Australian drone team deployed to Nepal disaster zone

A collapse high in the Himalayas sent an enormous surge of water and mud tearing down through the valley with extraordinary force.

For the people living below it, there was no time. More than 1000 people have died and many more are missing.

We had already started seeing pictures before we landed in Nepal — homes, roads and buildings buried in thick grey mud.

Disasters are often described as looking like “something from a movie”.

As 7NEWS reporter Cassidy Mosconi and I walked through some of these villages, even that comparison didn’t seem quite right.

Cassidy and I walked through the devastation almost in silence. Neither of us could really comprehend what we were looking at, or how it could have happened so quickly.

Then we stepped into the mud, and it gave us an appreciation of just how terrifying those moments must have been.

In some places, one wrong step and your foot disappeared to your ankle. You would try to pull it out and realise how much force it took just to free one leg.

Locals warned us to be careful where we walked because there were places where you could suddenly sink much deeper, to your knees or even your waist.

It was hard not to think about what that would have meant for somebody caught in the flood.

I pictured reaching these villages and seeing a huge rescue operation, people everywhere, machinery digging through the mud and teams searching building after building.

Instead, in some areas, it felt strangely deserted. There would be the odd person helplessly shovelling mud through a doorway or trying to salvage whatever remained.