BIDUR, Nepal — A frantic warning, a ringing school bell and a decision made in just minutes may have saved the lives of more than 900 students when catastrophic flash floods tore through Nepal’s Trishuli Valley.
Headmaster Rajendra Dawadi was at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Bidur on Wednesday, August 26, when the school’s accountant rushed in with an urgent message: the flood was coming.
The warning came from a relative in upstream Rasuwa, an area already being hit by the disaster. According to Reuters, Dawadi and his staff had only about 14 minutes to get students and faculty to safety.
Dawadi did not wait for further confirmation.
He ordered classes stopped, rang the emergency bell and instructed students to leave the school grounds and move toward higher ground. Buses carrying additional students were also told to turn around rather than continue toward the campus.
At the time, more than 900 students were on campus, along with 16 faculty members. The school had roughly 1,600 students in total.
Then the flood arrived.
A massive surge of water, mud and debris swept through the area, destroying buildings, bridges and infrastructure. The school itself was eventually swallowed by the floodwaters, leaving its former location inside the riverbed.
One of the most chilling moments came as a school bus escaped the area.
Dawadi told Reuters that the bus crossed a newly built bridge—and moments later, an older bridge beside it collapsed under the force of the floodwaters.
A decision made before the danger was visible
The evacuation was not based on a formal warning reaching the school through a conventional alert system. Instead, multiple people began reporting signs of the rapidly approaching disaster.
Teachers received frantic calls. A parent arrived at the school to collect her daughter. The accountant relayed information from upstream.
For Dawadi, those warnings were enough.
He later explained that delaying the evacuation, even briefly, could have changed everything.
The Associated Press reported that Dawadi watched from higher ground as the school where he had once studied—and later spent years teaching—disappeared beneath a torrent of water, mud, boulders and debris.
Parents subsequently credited the headmaster with saving their children.
One parent told Reuters that Dawadi had effectively given her daughter and many other children their lives.
But the tragedy did not spare everyone.
At least one school staff member and the mother of the accountant who delivered the warning were reported missing. The accountant reportedly managed to get his father to higher ground but could not save his mother before their home was swept away.
Nepal’s wider flood disaster
The rescue at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School came amid a far larger catastrophe across Nepal and neighboring areas.
Reuters reported that the disaster had killed more than 900 people, with thousands still missing as rescue operations continued. AP likewise reported more than 900 deaths across Nepal and China and more than 4,700 people missing in its latest account.
The disaster was linked to a major glacial collapse in the Himalayas that unleashed destructive floodwaters through the Trishuli Valley.
The destruction also dealt a devastating blow to education.
According to Save the Children figures cited by AP and ABC News, at least 69 schools in northern Nepal were destroyed, placing the education of nearly 19,000 children at risk.
Another school in Dhading also became a story of survival. Students escaped after teachers warned them to leave their classrooms shortly before floodwaters arrived, while some children happened to be away from their classrooms during a lunch break.
Nepal’s government temporarily closed schools and universities in affected areas as authorities dealt with continuing flood and landslide risks.
‘The school no longer exists’
For Dawadi, the survival of his students came with an enormous personal loss.
He had studied at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School before eventually becoming its headmaster. Now the school he knew for much of his life is gone.
His focus, however, has shifted toward the students.
He has called for the school to be rebuilt in a safer location and for students to receive psychological support before education resumes. AP reported that he also urged authorities to help children return to school as quickly as possible.
The story of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School has since emerged as one of the rare moments of hope amid Nepal’s devastating floods.
The warning lasted only minutes.
The decision took seconds.
And when the flood finally arrived, the school was gone—but more than 900 students had already made it to safety.
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