Last-Minute Flood Warning Saves More Than 900 Nepal Students, Headmaster Says

A shouted warning, delivered just 14 minutes before the flood arrived, saved more than 900 students and 16 faculty members at a school in Nepal's Bidur, headmaster Rajendra Dawadi said.

Dawadi was at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School last Wednesday when the school accountant rushed in with news from a relative in Rasuwa, an area hit first by the disaster. "The flood is coming, the flood is coming!" the accountant shouted.

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The flood is coming, the flood is coming!

The school immediately stopped classes and rang its bell. More than 900 of its roughly 1,600 students were on campus. Dawadi ordered buses carrying additional students to turn toward safer ground, while teachers, parents and students used motorbikes, buses and footpaths to reach higher ground. At least one student fainted as the evacuation descended into panic.

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We immediately said: Stop the class, ring the bell.

The final bus crossed a nearby bridge about 14 minutes after the warning. A wall of water then swept through the town, which has about 60,000 residents. "As our bus crossed the new bridge, the old bridge collapsed," Dawadi said.

The school, rebuilt after Nepal's 2015 earthquake, stood between the Trishuli River and a hydropower canal. It no longer exists, and the site has become part of the riverbed. Parents have credited Dawadi with saving their children. "He was like a God. He gave life to my daughter and to many other children. Only God can do this," said Man Maya Tamang, who initially believed her daughter was lost.

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As our bus crossed the new bridge, the old bridge collapsed.

The warning could not save everyone in the area. At least one school staff member and the accountant's mother remain missing, Dawadi said. He wants the school rebuilt quickly, but in a safer location.

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He was like a God. He gave life to my daughter and to many other children. Only God can do this.