A Georgia mom and grandmother is among about 85 Americans who are missing after devastating floods recently rocked the Nepal-Tibet border.
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Mary Sorensen, a 60-year-old environmental consultant who hails from just north of Atlanta, had traveled to Mount Kailash on a spiritual pilgrimage her family called a "bucket list" trip.
"She was with a group called Isha that she does yoga with, and she prays with, and she meditates with," her son, Riley Wildeman, told ABC News.
The Georgia mom and grandmother managed to complete her journey and was reportedly on her way back down the mountain when tragedy struck. She told her son that the long trip home would give her time to reflect on her time spent abroad before returning to Georgia.
"The last thing that she sent to us was Tuesday [Aug.25] morning, and she was on her way down the mountain," Wildeman recalled.
Sorensen's son later noted how his mom wrapped the poignant message in retrospect.
"She ended that text by saying, 'I'm so grateful that you guys are my family,'" he added.
The next day, relentless floods swept through the Nepal-Tibet border region, reportedly triggering deadly landslides across the region. To date, 1,287 have died, and more than 5,000 are still missing due to the disaster, per the BBC.
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Son Recalls Father Calling With News of His Mom Going Missing in Deadly Floods in Nepal
Wildeman, a public school teacher, told ABC News about the moment his father called with the tragic news.
"There was really very little about where they were, about where the flood had hit, about how severe the flood was," he recalled. "And then all the news coverage and all the videos and all of the social media popped up, and so that's how we kind of understood the severity of the situation."
He and his family went on to exhaust every avenue they could think of to locate Sorensen amid the disaster.
"We've called in every favor and every possible thing that we can call in," he told ABC News.
"We feel so much heartbreak and so much sadness and pain, like a deep, guttural pain," Wilderman added. "My whole family and my mom all believe in a God that does miracles, and that the miracle that we're gonna get out of this is gonna be something that we might not necessarily understand right now, but it's gonna be something that we look back on and we feel."
Yesterday, Nepalis held a day of mourning for those lost in the floods.
