Nepal Floods: Principal Saves 1,643 Children With Split-Second Evacuation

When a warning came that muddy floodwaters were surging towards his school, Nepali principal Rajendra Dawadi had only minutes to act. His decision to evacuate the campus saved the lives of 1,643 children as a devastating flash flood tore through the Nepal-Tibet border region.

Dawadi, 47, principal of Tribhuvan Trishuli Secondary School in Nepal’s Trishuli Valley, received the warning at around 9:20 am on Wednesday. A friend told him that the nearby village had been overwhelmed by the river.

“He said the village was gone: taken by the river. He told me to run,” Dawadi recalled, according to The Times.

At the time, Dawadi believed the three-storey concrete school was safe. The building stood about 60 metres above the river and was roughly level with a steel bridge connecting the village to the eastern bank.

Principal Rings School Bell, Orders Evacuation

Dawadi immediately rang the school bell and ordered teachers to get the children out of their classrooms. He also called school bus drivers, instructing all but one to turn back.

The evacuation quickly became chaotic as the children realised the scale of the danger. One girl suffered a panic attack and had to be taken uphill on a motorbike, while the others escaped on foot, with Dawadi following behind, The Times reported.

The children eventually reached higher ground and took shelter beneath a bodhi tree.

Moments later, floodwaters swept through the area, destroying the school buildings and carrying away vehicles, bridges and other infrastructure.

Dawadi’s decision ensured that 1,643 children and almost all the teaching staff survived.

According to the report, two school employees, however, were killed. Social history teacher Santos Pariyar, 32, was swept away after returning to his rented room beside the river to prepare breakfast. School janitor Sultan Lama also died after going back to close the school doors.

Locals have hailed Dawadi as a hero for his quick action.

But the principal remains understated about his role.

“What else could I do?” he said, according to The Times.

How The Flash Flood Was Triggered

The catastrophic flooding was linked to a massive collapse of ice and rock from Langtang Lirung peak near the Tibet border.

The debris plunged around 1,200 metres into the steep upper gorge of the Lhende Khola river, sending a powerful surge of water, mud, rock and debris downstream.

The disaster has devastated communities across the region. At least 734 people have died in Nepal and 16 in Tibet, while thousands remain missing, according to the latest figures cited in the report.

The tragedy has also revived memories of Nepal’s vulnerability to mountain disasters. In April 2015, the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that killed nearly 9,000 people across South Asia triggered an avalanche that buried all 300 residents of Langtang, in the same Rasuwa district now devastated by the floods.

Amid the destruction, Dawadi’s decision to act within minutes has emerged as one of the few stories of survival from the catastrophe — 1,643 children escaping just before the floodwaters reached their school.