Trishuli River flows with heavy sediment and debris past eroded banks and affected settlements in the aftermath of the devastating flash floods in Nuwakot
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. No confirmed figure for student deaths from Uttargaya Public School had been released. NUWAKOT: “The big flood is coming, run… 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.
Grade 10 student Sujal Lama had finished his morning tuition and was heading towards the school’s breakfast when the warning spread. Class 8 student Rashmi Tamang recalled the struggle uphill. Nawaraj Tamang rushed towards Uttargaya after learning about the flood to find his Grade 10 son Ayush.
“We managed to climb up even though we were covered in mud, but many children couldn’t even run,” she told TOI. Before leaving, he told his mother, Mungsi Tamang, “Aama, ma Ayush lai lina aaye” (Mother, I have come to get Ayush). Within minutes, children were scrambling towards the forested hill behind the campus as the surge cut across roads and normal escape routes. Hostel students were at breakfast when the cry rang through the compound. For one family, a parent’s attempt to reach the school ended in tragedy. 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.
There had been no siren, automated message or official alert before the children began running. The school routine had barely begun on Wednesday.