A family-of-three who all drowned after becoming trapped in their basement apartment during flash flooding in New York City overnight have been formally identified.
Ang Lama, 50, Mingma Sherpa, 48, and their two-year-old son, Ang (full name Lobsang), were found dead inside the Woodside, Queens property on Thursday morning.
Water from the flash flood - caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida - began pouring into the family's basement apartment around 9.30pm Wednesday night, as Sherpa frantically dialed her upstairs neighbor for help.
'The water is coming in right now... The water coming in from the window!' Sherpa purportedly yelled down the phone to Choi Sledge, who lives on the complex's third floor.
Choi told The New York Times that she urged the family to 'get out' and make their way upstairs. When Choi tried to call back minutes later there was no answer.
The basement apartment features just one door, and occupants can only leave by climbing an external flight of stairs.
Deborah Torres, who lives on the first floor of the complex, says she believes the staircase would have been cascading with rushing water, making it impossible for the family to get out.
'I think the pressure of the water was too strong that they couldn't open the door [to get out and up the stairs] ' Torres told The New York Daily News. 'The [basement] was just like a pool with stairs.'
The windows of the property are barred, meaning it was also unfeasible to escape through them.
Lama and Sherpa were both immigrants from Nepal.
Ang Lama, 50, and his two-year-old son (pictured) drowned inside their basement apartment on Wednesday night
The basement apartment features only one door, which can only be accessed by going down an external flight of stairs (pictured)
The windows of the property are barred, meaning it was also unfeasible to escape through them (pictured)
Lobsang Lama, 50, and Mingma Sherpa, 48, lived with their son in the basement apartment of the three-story apartment complex in Woodside, Queens
The bodies of the three victims were removed from the apartment on Thursday morning
The apartment complex is the last building at the bottom of a street that is on a significant downward slope.
Most of the homes have downward slanting garages, with one neighbor telling DailyMail.com that the area feels like being 'in a valley built between two hills'.
The flooding was so severe that it also caused damage to the apartment on the first floor, where Torres lives with her daughter.
'It was so fast. My daughter started to scream... when I came out from my room the water was already on my feet,' Torres told The Daily News.
'My sofa was floating. This has never happened before.'
On Thursday afternoon, tributes began pouring in for the family-of-three after their names were released to the public.
Martha Suarez, who taught two-year-old Ang, told The Daily News: 'He was so cute... Just a happy boy, very nice family.'
Neighbors from surrounding apartment complexes told the Associated Press that the floods have left their homes severely waterlogged.
The subterranean entrance to the family's apartment is pictured following the flash flood on Thursday
A stroller is seen sitting abandoned outside the home on Thursday. Tributes are now coming in
The apartment complex is the last building at the bottom of a street that is on a significant downward slope. Most of the homes have downward slanting garages, with one neighbor telling DailyMail.com that the area felt like being 'in a valley built between two hills'
One neighbor showed the inside of his sodden basement apartment, proving just how high the floodwaters rose.
Felix Delapuente's basement bathroom was left covered in dirt and grime after the water was finally drained from the premises Thursday.
The Sherpa-Lama family are among at least 26 people who were killed across the Northeast on Wednesday night as remnants of Hurricane Ida battered the region.
Nine people were killed in New York City, including others who also drowned inside their basement apartments.
One neighbor showed the inside of his sodden basement apartment, proving just how high the floodwaters rose
Felix Delapuente's basement bathroom was left covered in dirt and grim after water was finally drained from the premises Thursday
Other victims include Roberto Bravo, 66; Phamatee Ramskriet, 43 and Khrishah Ramskriet, 22, 86-year-old Yue Lian Chen and Darlene Hsu, 48.
Fourteen people died in New Jersey - nine were swept away in cars that became submerged in the water and five died in an apartment complex in Elizabeth. Three people from one family - a 72-year-old woman, her 71-year-old husband and their 38-year-old son - died along with their 33-year-old female neighbor in the Oakwood Plaza Apartments in New Jersey.
A 19-year-old man died in Maryland when the Rock Creek River burst its banks and flooded nearby homes. Three people died in Pennsylvania.
Austin Ferdock drinks a beer while floating in floodwater that continues to rise over the submerged Vine Street Expressway, Interstate 676, following a huge storm caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida on September 2, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Residents canoe through floodwater in the aftermath of Hurricane Ida in Manville, NJ, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021
Roads are covered in floodwaters caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida which brought drenching rain, flash floods and tornadoes to parts of the northeast in New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S., September 2, 2021
Train tracks are flooded in the Bronx following a night of heavy wind and rain from the remnants of Hurricane Ida on September 2, 2021 in New York City. Multiple fatalities have been reported in the region after the storm passed through, causing massive flooding and a widespread disruption of subway service
HOBOKEN, NJ - SEPTEMBER 2: A man falls off his bike into a flooded street the morning after the remnants of Hurricane Ida drenched the New York City and New Jersey area on September 2, 2021 in Hoboken, New Jersey
Roads are covered in floodwaters caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida which brought drenching rain, flash floods and tornadoes to parts of the northeast in New Brunswick, New Jersey, U.S., September 2, 2021
Multiple homes are destroyed after a Tornado hit Mullica Hill, New Jersey, yesterday. September 02 2021. The neighborhood is just south of Philadelphia, near the Pennsylvania/New Jersey border
Multiple homes are destroyed after a Tornado hit Mullica Hill, New Jersey, yesterday. September 02 2021
Homes damaged from the remnants of Hurricane Ida on Josephine Lane in Mullica Hill, New Jersey
Parked cars sit in flood waters behind an apartment building, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, Mamaroneck, N.Y. A stunned U.S. East Coast woke up Thursday to a rising death toll
An abandon car sits in standing flood waters on a residential street, Thursday, Sept. 2, 2021, Mamaroneck, New York
