Nepal headteacher evacuates 900 pupils minutes before fatal glacial flash flood destroys school

Evacuation at Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School

Rajendra Dawadi, the 47-year-old headteacher of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nuwakot, ordered an emergency evacuation on Wednesday morning after receiving warnings of imminent floodwaters. The school had an enrollment of slightly over 1,600 pupils, with approximately 900 already on site and 700 inbound on foot or in school buses. At 09:10 local time (03:25 GMT), Dawadi received four telephone calls within minutes, including alerts that upstream waters had already devastated the settlement of Betrawati. Dawadi directed teachers to guide students to higher ground and contacted drivers to turn inbound buses around before the surge reached the school gates. He made the immediate decision to evacuate the building rather than wait for visual confirmation.

I decided I shouldn't delay any more. Even if the flood was not coming, it was just a matter of a single day's classes.

Escape and destruction on the campus

Students and staff fled behind the school through a narrow, muddy path and climbed a steep ladder toward higher ground. One student who fainted during the panic was evacuated on the back of a motorbike while others ran uphill. Within ten minutes of the evacuation order, floodwaters engulfed a hostel building situated 100 metres from the river and buried the main school structure in mud and debris. A 32-year-old history teacher who had arrived early for extra classes was swept away by the current, alongside a school caretaker who attempted to lock the doors. Sixteen-year-old pupil Yunisha Amatya reached safety shortly before the surrounding bazaar was swept away, later reuniting with her mother, Sabina Shrestha, after three days of disrupted communication.

If we didn't make a quick decision, if it was 10 minutes later, we all - including the students and me - wouldn't be able to speak to you today.

Regional casualties across Nepal and Tibet

The flood originated on 26 August from a glacial burst along the Nepal-Tibet border, causing widespread destruction along river valleys. By 30 August, the combined death toll across both territories reached 797, with Nepal Police confirming 794 recovered bodies in Nepal by 17:45 local time and Chinese officials reporting 16 deaths in Tibet. Official counts recorded 3,048 people missing across the two territories, including 2,426 in Nepal and 546 in Tibet. The missing in Tibet include 261 foreign nationals from 23 countries, among whom are 49 Indian citizens and several German tourists. Entire settlements suffered extensive infrastructural damage, with financial losses estimated in the billions.

Emergency response and stranded infrastructure workers

Rescue operations entered their fifth day on 30 August with more than 19,800 army and police personnel deployed across the disaster zones. Search teams had rescued 8,730 people and treated at least 239 injured individuals. Severe logistical disruptions and severed communication links have hampered ongoing recovery efforts, requiring government agencies to issue casualty updates multiple times daily. In addition to residential areas, the floods struck critical infrastructure, leaving close to 1,000 workers trapped inside damaged hydroelectric power stations.