As raging floodwaters swept away vehicles, buildings and belongings along Nepal’s Trishuli River, one 40-year-old green-painted house in Nuwakot district stood largely intact, becoming one of the most striking images of the devastating August 26 flash flood.For Prakash, the owner of the house, its survival was nothing short of a miracle. As floodwaters surrounded the building and rose to its upper floors, he feared the worst.“When you feel that this may be the last moment of your life, what can you think? I felt that perhaps our lives were about to end,” Prakash told The Lallantop.The family was forced to move to the upper floors as the water continued to rise.“There were six people. I was there as well. Five members of my family were in the house,” he recalled.Prakash said he was at his nearby shop when he received an alert about the rising water. He immediately rushed home and asked his family members to move to safety.“I immediately ran towards the house. I went inside and called everyone, telling them to come quickly,” he said.But the situation worsened rapidly. When Prakash stepped outside, he saw the force of the floodwaters overturning his vehicle.“Seeing that, I ran back inside,” he said.The family initially moved to the fourth floor, the top floor of the house. However, the floodwaters eventually reached that level too, forcing them to climb towards the highest point of the building.“The water came up to the fourth floor. After that, we went upstairs, to the very top floor,” Prakash said.Amid the chaos, he was also worried about his son, who had gone to school and was not at home when the flood struck.“Everyone was together, but one of my sons was not there. He had gone to school. I kept thinking about what would happen to him if something happened to us,” he said.“That thought kept running through my mind.”Why did the 40-year-old house survive?The survival of the green house has sparked widespread discussion on social media, with people questioning how the structure remained standing while buildings and vehicles around it were swept away.Prakash attributed its resilience partly to its construction and strong foundation.“It is an old house, around 40 years old. At that time, the quality of cement and construction materials was better,” he said.Given its proximity to the river, the family had also invested in strengthening the foundation.“We had also spent quite a lot on making the house strong because it was located close to the river. From the safety point of view, we had put two or three layers of road material underneath as well. So the foundation was made quite strong,” he said.The house did suffer major damage to its lower portion, which was being used to store goods for Prakash’s shop.“A large amount of material was lost. Two vehicles were swept away, along with bikes and scooters. Everything was gone,” he said.Laxmi Pandey, the owner of the green-coloured house, also described the family’s survival as a second chance at life.“We feel lucky to have survived. It is like a second birth for us,” she told ANI.“We had climbed to the upper floor as flood water had entered my house. Even during the Nepal earthquake, we felt very strong tremors, and the nearby houses collapsed. We were rescued and saved by our neighbours,” she said.Family rescued with pipe, ropeThe family remained trapped for around an hour to an hour and a half before the water level began to recede slightly.People from a nearby toll area eventually reached out to rescue them.“Some people from the toll area came and placed a pipe between the buildings. They used the pipe and a rope to reach us from the other side. That is how we were rescued,” Prakash said.The family had spent the most dangerous phase of the flooding at the highest point of the house before being brought to safety.‘We will try to start again’The family is trying to salvage whatever belongings remained. Household items, food supplies and other possessions were being removed and shifted to safer locations.The lower portion of the building, which also housed the family’s shop and storage area, suffered extensive damage.Despite losing vehicles, shop materials and household belongings, Prakash said everyone who was inside the house survived.“Everyone is safe. We are currently staying in Kathmandu,” he said.The family now faces the difficult task of rebuilding its life after the flood destroyed much of what they owned.“Whatever was here has either been destroyed or buried in the mud. We will now have to rebuild everything,” Prakash said.Asked whether he planned to restart his life from the same place, Prakash gave a determined response: “Yes, we will try to start again.”Located along the route from Nuwakot towards Rasuwa, the green house remains standing even as much of its surroundings was destroyed or levelled by the flood. A grocery shop on the lower floor was also badly damaged.The road connecting Nuwakot and Rasuwa has suffered severe damage, making access to the area difficult. The house is around 1.25 km from the nearest motorable point, with the remaining distance requiring people to travel on foot.Nepal Army personnel continue to assist with rescue and recovery operations in the affected area.