Last-minute flood warning saved over 900 Nepal students, school head says
BIDUR: Headmaster Rajendra Dawadi was in his school in Nepal’s Bidur last Wednesday when his accountant entered, shouting: “The flood is coming, the flood is coming!”, giving an early warning that helped save the lives of 900 students and 16 faculty members. As teachers at the Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School began receiving panicked phone calls from relatives and friends, a roaring wave of…
On a Wednesday in Nepal's Bidur, school headmaster Rajendra Dawadi received an urgent warning from his accountant that a flood was approaching, saving the lives of 900 students and 16 faculty members. As panicked phone calls flooded in from relatives and friends, a wall of mud and water rushed through the valley upstream, leveling entire towns.
The accountant had received a call from a relative in Rasuwa, hit first, granting just a 14-minute window to evacuate. This swift decision proved crucial, as over 900 people, including many students and teachers, perished in the disaster that has claimed more than 900 lives and left thousands missing.
The school, built after the 2015 earthquake that killed approximately 9,000 people, sat on a peninsula between the Trishuli river and a hydropower canal. Headmaster Dawadi instructed teachers and staff to stop classes and sound the bell upon receiving the warning. The school no longer stands, as its former location is now beneath the riverbed.
Dawadi evacuated over 900 students and instructed buses carrying additional students to head to safer ground, quickly beginning to evacuate the premises. Despite the chaos, at least one student fainted during the evacuation.
Parents, teachers, and students arrived on motorbikes to retrieve their children, while others sought refuge in buses or made haste to higher ground. As Dawadi's last bus crossed a nearby bridge, the old bridge collapsed, and the water was already in motion. Headmaster Dawadi, once a student in the school, now calls for authorities to rebuild the school in a safer location as soon as possible.
Many parents credit Dawadi for saving their children, likening him to a god who granted life to numerous children. Unfortunately, at least one school staffer and the school accountant's mother are reported missing. While Dawadi warned the school, the accountant rushed back to his parents' house to save them, managing to transfer his father uphill, but when he returned for his mother, the house had been washed away.
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