The turquoise home that withstood a torrent

When the floodwaters tore through the town of Trishuli in the Nuwakot district in Nepal, most of the valley vanished in minutes.Homes folded, bridges collapsed and the Trishuli river rose by up to nine metres in just 30 minutes.But on the second floor of this turquoise home, a family of five stood watching the disaster swallow up their town.What happened on the day?An aerial view of the house after it withstood flash floods and a mudslide in Nepal. (Reuters: Francis Mascarenhas)On the morning the flood hit, the river rose with a speed that left residents little time to react.Lakshmi Pandey said she was at their shop, about five minutes away from their home, when she realised the flood was coming."We ran back as fast as we could because my mother-in-law and my daughter were at home," she said in an interview with The Economic Times, translated by the ABC.The mother of two told her mother-in-law, "The flood is coming, we need to run".A surge triggered upstream saw a deluge of ice, rock, mud and debris carve a trail of destruction through the country's valley towns and villages.Within minutes, streets were underwater."The old bridge broke and a huge amount of water suddenly came rushing down from above, and at that point, I realised that we could no longer escape by running outside," she said.Inside the turquoise house close to the riverbank, the mother, her husband, daughter, in-laws and their neighbour remained trapped.Her son was at school at the time.They watched from their balcony, standing next to their washing machine, as the flood ripped through the bottom floor of their home.In a viral video, the family can be seen huddling around the balcony rails in what's been dubbed the "miracle house" and "greenhouse" on social media."Water was hitting the house from both sides, and the whole house started shaking; it felt just like the huge shaking we experienced during the 2015 Nepal earthquake," she said.As the houses around them collapsed from the force of the flood, the couple described feeling like there was no chance that they would survive."I thought my son would be all alone now, an orphan," the mother said."We thought if we survive we will all survive, if we die we will all die."Her husband, Prakash Pyakurel, recalled thinking "this is the end," deciding the family should stay together for what felt like their last moments while "chanting the God's name."Waiting to be rescued, the mother said she told herself "we are five people, we should be patient".Footage circulating on Saturday showed rescue workers using a makeshift bridge to reach the family, with mud seen stuck on the walls slightly below the balcony.The mother said four neighbours risked their own lives and came to rescue them."Somehow, they managed to get all of us out safely," she said.Why is the turquoise house still standing?The head of engineering at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Adrian McCallum, said it was likely the water was able to flow underneath the house, similar to a traditional Queenslander, lessening loads upon the structure."Crucially, the turquoise house appears to be built on rock and constructed of concrete with reinforcing steel," he told the ABC.The house appears to be protected from the main river flow by a small headland protruding immediately upstream, so this may also have saved it from the main brunt of the flood, he said.It is thought that a headland protected the house from the full force of the flood. (Reuters: Francis Mascarenhas)The disaster is believed to have activated when part of a Himalayan glacier broke off and crashed into the river below and triggered flash flooding and a mudslide.As of Tuesday, the death toll surpassed 1,000 as rescuers deployed heavy machinery, helicopters and excavators to reach thousands still missing for nearly a week.Hundreds remain stranded at devastated hydropower stations and are the focus of rescue efforts.Specialised rescue teams from China, India and Nepal have built temporary bridges to reach remote areas and dig through the ruins of hydropower projects, using excavators to try to rescue the nearly 300 workers trapped inside tunnels.A drone view shows mud covering properties following a flash flood in Trishuli. (Reuters: Navesh Chitrakar)Family returns to 'miracle home'On Monday, the surviving family walked back through their home — that remains standing — to assess the damage.What had been their town just a few days earlier was now a field of mud.The mother expressed gratitude that her family, including her son, had been "reborn".