Nepal floods teacher saves more than 1,600 lives with alarm calls as death toll tops 700 and thousands missing

Nepal floods teacher saves more than 1,600 lives with alarm calls as death toll tops 700 and thousands missing A teacher at a school directly in the path of the horror torrent that crushed buildings along the Trishuli river has been credited with saving every child and all but two staff A quick-thinking teacher who sounded the alarm as a wall of water came crashing down a major river in Nepal has been credited with saving more than 1,600 lives. Principal Rajendra Dawadi had already welcomed 900 children to his school, the Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school in the Trishuli valley of north-central Nepal, when he received an urgent phonecall from a friend on Wednesday, August 26. The friend informed him that the school five miles up river had been taken in the devastating floodwaters that would go on to kill 752 people in Nepal alone, and 16 in Tibet, and leave more than 2,500 others missing. The impending doom rushing down the Trishuli river to Mr Dawadi's school could have killed another 1,643 people, but they were saved thanks to his quick thinking. The Times reports that floodwaters put every single one of the 900 children already at school and 700 more arriving by bus in the path of a deadly torrent of water, with the Tribhuvan Trishuli secondary school located just 200 feet - 60 metres - from the river's banks. As the severe floods tore through the Himalayan river system, Mr Dawadi sounded the school bell and told teachers to get the children out of their classrooms. The teacher then called the drivers of approaching school buses, asking them to turn back moments before they crossed the bridge to their campus. With the warning extended, some of the children had started to panic as they realised the danger. Mr Dawadi followed people rushing away on foot, and after finding shelter under a bodhi tree watched the floodwaters sweep away their school buildings. Every child and all but two staff members were saved by the principal's quick thinking. Santos Pariyar, 32, was sadly washed away after he returned to his rented room beside the rapidly rising river to cook breakfast that morning. Sultan Lama, the janitor, was killed as a returned to close the doors. The children saved by Mr Dawadi were lucky not to have been impacted by the water, but others were only rescued after becoming caught in the deadly deluge. Urgent rescue operations launched One five-year-old girl, Manisha, was rescued two days after the floods by emergency teams in Syabrubesi, in Nepal's Ruswa district. She was reunited with her parents at the Teaching Hospital in Kathmandu, the BBC reports, and is in stable condition after emergency workers were alerted to what they thought was a cat miaowing under rubble. Police officer Sanju Khatri, with Nepal's Armed Police Force, said teams found Manisha trapped after they started moving debris, and it took them two hours to free her. Other rescuers have been attempting to reach hydropower workers believed to have been trapped in tunnels on the Trishuli 3A and 3B sites which have been clogged by flood debris. On Sunday, they deployed heavy machinery as rain and rising river waters hampered their earlier efforts. Nepal's energy ministry said in a statement: "Drilling of four holes has been completed... preparations are now underway to enter the tunnel directly... and proceed with search and rescue operations." Also rescued were Laxmi Pandey Pyakurel and her family, who were trapped on a balcony at their home as they were surrounded by floodwaters. Now viral footage showed the family looking down onto the grey waters with seemingly nowhere to run. Laxmi, 42, told the Daily Telegraph: “We saw death very closely. Death was staring at every one of us. We thought these were our final moments. I told everyone that if we had to die, we would die together.” Brits missing following disaster As well as local residents swept up in the horror, hundreds of tourists, including 33 Brits, have been reported as missing. Among them is former Mrs India UK Surabhi Manmath Padhy and her husband, Santosh Sahu, who were in the country with their 18-year-old son Spandan and 13-year-old daughter Saina, when the floods hit. They had reportedly travelled to Nepal en route to Kailash Mansarovar, but have not been heard from since communications were wiped out by the floods. Spandan had just finished his A-levels at Royal Grammar School, Guildford, and according to his Linkedin page was preparing for a degree in philosophy, politics and economics. A spokesperson for his school said they have been "reported missing" in Nepal. They said: "It is with great concern that we have been informed that a former student, along with members of his family, have been reported missing in Nepal. "Whilst we are hoping for positive news, we do not have any further information at this time. Our thoughts, love and deepest sympathies are with all of the families and loved ones of anyone affected by this tragedy in Nepal at this incredibly difficult time." The brother of another missing Brit, Neetu Goyal Tiwari, has pleaded "help us find her" after revealing she had not been seen since Wednesday. He said his family has "called every helpline given by the Indian government and reached out to the British Embassy in Kathmandu" as they are "very scared" while worrying about what may have happened. Newlywed food truck owner Pramod Poudel said his wife Sumitra went missing following the floods and started his own search for her. He told The Sun that her last words to him were "I love you so much", saying: “When I last spoke to her, she said to me, ‘How are you? I love you so much.’ “I have not had contact with her since then. It’s devastating — I don’t even know how to explain how I’m feeling right now. I’m so worried about her, and all my family. I work so hard for them and they are my whole world. I’m very hopeful of finding them but I’m also praying to God.” More flood warnings Flood warning notices were sent to people's phones early Sunday as rescue crews worked to clear a major highway connecting Kathmandu to one of the areas worst hit by Wednesday's catastrophic floods, as some residents began returning to ruined homes to see what can be salvaged. Residents sat in homes with walls washed away by the floods, shovelling sludge-like mud and rubble off balconies or window frames. The latest warnings came after Chinese authorities informed their Nepalese counterparts of increased water flow upstream, according to Dharam Raj Uprety, chief executive of Nepal's National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Authority. But residents of the flood-hit villages said they were struggling to make sense of near-constant alarms they've received since the initial floods. "Sometimes they say a flood is coming, then we have to run again to higher ground, even at night. There is also rain," said Govind Shreshta, a resident. "It's really difficult for me. I have a 72-year-old father and 70-year-old mom. I must carry them and I am exhausted. It's going on like this for those who are still alive."