‘The flood is on its way’: How 400 Nepal students escaped in time

A school bag is full of mud brought in by the recent flash floods, at the Shree Bagheswori Madhyamik School in Nepal. (Photo: AP) Morning assembly was about to begin at Bageshwori Higher Secondary School on August 26 when teachers learned that floodwaters were heading towards Baireni.Principal Prakash Malla told students to move to higher ground. Around 400 children were out of the school before the water arrived.Binita Ramtel had barely settled into her classroom and put down her bag when students were told to leave. "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," Binita told ANI while visiting her classroom.It was after 9am local time when the water entered Baireni. Students would normally have been arriving then for an assembly lasting about 15-20 minutes. Bageshwori Higher Secondary School stands close to the river.Principal orders students to higher groundA guardian living upstream had alerted the school about the approaching flood. Science teacher Dipendra Wa...