Nepal floods: Stranger ran past school screaming ‘Run, water’. It saved 370 kids, teachers

Trishuli River flows with heavy sediment and debris past eroded banks and affected settlements in the aftermath of the devastating flash floods in Nuwakot

NUWAKOT: “The big flood is coming, run…” An unidentified man sprinting past Uttargaya Public School in Betrawati, across the river and a few km from Trishuli Bazaar, shouting those words gave more than 370 pupils and their teachers the warning they desperately needed.Within minutes, children were scrambling towards the forested hill behind the campus as the surge cut across roads and normal escape routes. The school routine had barely begun on Wednesday. Hostel students were at breakfast when the cry rang through the compound. There had been no siren, automated message or official alert before the children began running.The warning that reached Uttargaya came from a stranger outside the compound — shouting loudly enough, and early enough for teachers to act. Older pupils from Grades 7 to 10 ran themselves; staff helped younger children through mud, carrying some in their arms when they could not keep up.“No one could have imagined a flood this massive was coming,” English teacher Somlal Dangol told TOI. “That’s why they didn’t run far at first — and by the time they saw it, they could no longer escape along the main paths.”Grade 10 student Sujal Lama had finished his morning tuition and was heading towards the school’s breakfast when the warning spread. He initially thought the river would not rise very high. “If I had gone to eat, the flood would have caught me,” Sujal told TOI on Sunday. He ran towards the forest, spent the night there and was given food by teachers once he had gathered enough courage — his teachers said ‘bravado’ — to return towards the building.Class 8 student Rashmi Tamang recalled the struggle uphill. “We managed to climb up even though we were covered in mud, but many children couldn’t even run,” she told TOI.For one family, a parent’s attempt to reach the school ended in tragedy. Nawaraj Tamang rushed towards Uttargaya after learning about the flood to find his Grade 10 son Ayush. Before leaving, he told his mother, Mungsi Tamang, “Aama, ma Ayush lai lina aaye” (Mother, I have come to get Ayush). Nawaraj was swept away before he could reach the school. Ayush escaped into the forest and survived.

In the immediate aftermath, vice-principal Pawan Sharma and teachers were scattered with groups of children on higher ground, communications disrupted and school records inaccessible.“Relatives of students are calling continuously from inside the country and abroad, but I don’t even have the records of those children with me anymore,” Sharma told TOI. “We have managed to hand over about 25 to 30% directly to their parents, and we have been in touch with the parents of others.”The school was still trying to trace many pupils after the flood, with disrupted communications making it difficult to establish how many had reached their families. No confirmed figure for student deaths from Uttargaya Public School had been released.