Minutes to spare: How fast-thinking teachers saved 400 students from Nepal's deadly flood

A narrow escape in Baireni

The morning assembly at Bageshwori Higher Secondary School in Baireni, Nepal, was about to begin on August 26 when teachers learned that floodwaters were heading towards the town. Principal Prakash Malla ordered students to move to higher ground, and around 400 children were out of the school before the water arrived, according to accounts from the school and local officials.

Binita Ramtel, a student at the school, had barely settled into her classroom and put down her bag when the evacuation order came. "I had just arrived at the school, I had just kept my bag in the classroom and was preparing to come to the ground for the morning assembly, then the teachers made the announcement that the flood was on its way and asked us to evacuate, after which we fled from here," she told ANI while visiting her classroom.

The flood reached Baireni after 9 AM local time, around the time students usually arrived for the morning assembly, which normally lasted about 15-20 minutes. The school, located close to the river, was able to save its students after teachers received an early warning from a guardian living upstream, according to reports.

The warning that made the difference

A guardian living upstream had alerted the school about the approaching flood, according to reports. Science teacher Dipendra Wagle said that as students were preparing for physical training or assembly, one of the teachers received information from Nuwakot.

"When the students were preparing to attend the PT or the assembly, one of our teachers got information about the flood from Nuwakot. After that, our teacher Prakash Malla (Principal) announced from the office to get out of the school and all students ran away from here and are safe," Wagle told ANI.

Another warning about the water moving downstream reached Rajkumar Rimal, whose child attended the school. Rimal was working in a field at the time when his spouse called to warn that flooding had already hit the Betrawati River in Nuwakot. "I was working in the field that day, and my spouse called me, warning that the flood was coming," he told ANI.

The school's location close to the river made the swift evacuation critical, as floodwaters swept through Baireni, depositing sludge and sand measuring up to two metres above the river's level, according to ANI reports.

The aftermath: a school buried in mud

Nearly a week after the flood, Binita Ramtel returned to her school to find the playground where she had once played and attended morning assemblies transformed into a sea of sand, while her classroom had been buried under layers of sludge and debris, she told ANI.

The scene inside the school still bore signs of the sudden evacuation. Bags remained on desks, while Binita and her friend Prasamsha Magrati found several students' belongings damp and tiffin boxes with food still inside them, according to ANI's reporting.

Bageshwori Higher Secondary School stands close to the river, and the flood left mud and sludge in the classrooms, with marks on the walls showing the floodwater level, as reported by The Times of India.

The school is unsure when classes will resume, according to The Times of India. The floodwaters that inundated Baireni were part of a broader disaster that affected the districts of Rasuwa, Nuwakot, and Dhading. UNICEF estimated that 17,000 children needed humanitarian aid in the affected areas, while the reported death toll from the flooding crossed 900, with hundreds still missing, according to The Times of India.

Wider impact of the floods

The flooding in Nepal has had a devastating impact across multiple districts. In addition to the damage at Bageshwori Higher Secondary School, the town of Baireni, situated along the Prithvi Highway, was inundated as floodwaters swept through the area, according to ANI's reporting.

The brave actions of the teachers and the early warning system that included local guardians were credited with saving the lives of the students. As Binita Ramtel described, the moments after the announcement were a frantic rush to safety: "After that, we fled from here."