Desperate families of missing foreigners were clinging to hope as they combed hospitals and morgues in search of clues, a week after catastrophic floods tore through Nepal's Himalayan border region.

Outside Kathmandu's tourist police headquarters, Sanjeev Rai was trapped in agonising uncertainty.

The 53-year-old American flew to Nepal after learning that his wife, Jiwan Jyoti, was untraceable while returning from a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash, the sacred peak revered by Hindus and Buddhists.

"The day I arrived I said, let's find a helicopter, I'm going to look for her," Rai told AFP.

But Timure, the village in Rasuwa district where she was when disaster struck, remains inaccessible and dangerous.

"I feel desperate, it's been so many days," he said.