Bidur, Nepal (AP) — With warnings arriving by word of mouth and phone, principal Rajendra Dawadi rang the school bell, ordered an evacuation to higher ground, and followed students up a nearby hill as floodwaters rose through Nepal’s Trishuli Valley, the Associated Press reported.
Evacuation before the torrent
According to AP, colleagues alerted Dawadi that floodwaters were racing through the valley, tearing apart homes, bridges, and villages. A teacher received another phone warning, and a parent arrived to take a child home. Though the danger was not yet confirmed, Dawadi told AP he immediately decided to stop school and get the children out.
From the hillside, AP reported, he watched the Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School—where he had once been a student and later taught—disappear beneath water, mud, boulders, and debris. Two staff members could not make it out and remain missing, according to AP.
At least 900 students spared
The school had 1,643 students, and at least 900 were on campus that morning, AP reported. Dawadi ordered those present to leave and called bus drivers not to come. One bus already at the school turned back on his instruction, he told AP. The bus crossed a newly built bridge, and moments later the old bridge beside it collapsed, according to AP.
‘I have no words’
“I have no words. I got education from that school. And I gave education at that school,” Dawadi said, per AP. He told AP that parents later hugged him and cried as they thanked him. Fourteen-year-old student Suvina Tamang said the building was swept away shortly after the evacuation and added, “I will thank him when I see him” for saving her life, AP reported.
Aftermath and next steps
AP reported the flash floods were unleashed after a glacial collapse in the Himalayas. Dawadi told AP students will need psychological counseling and called for Nepal’s government to rebuild schools and restart classes, even if relocation is required.
Relief on the ground
According to AP, Operation Blessing is on the scene to help the Nepali community.
