People were caught unaware when suddenly the storm broke followed by heavy rainfall, 20 homes have been blown off
Hannah, Dawa & Kezang D THIMPHU
Mother Nature, it seems, has been very cruel to Eastern Bhutan this month. The people of the region have not yet even recovered from the recent earthquake shock and the region, especially Trashigang, experienced a thunder storm yesterday.
The Trashigang Dzongda, Lungten Dorji said: “The rains started at around 4:15 in the evening. People were not even able to come out of their houses because of the heavy shower.”
Gup Duptho of Yangneer geog under Trashigang Dzongkhag, which was perhaps the worst hit in the qauke, told BHUTAN TODAY: “From the highest point of the geog, as far as I could see, roof tops of at least 20 houses were blown off. However, the actual assessment is yet to be done.”
A 38-year-old woman was seriously injured and was rushed immediately to the Trashigang Hospital in a critical condition, as the only Basic Health Unit (BHU) in the geog had been damaged severely by the recent earthquake.
Gup Duptho said that the woman was in a house nearby when the storm started and in the midst of running towards her house to check out her children, she was hit by the roof of her own house.
However, reports of deaths or other injury cases are yet to be assessed.
Mutu, one of the residents of Radhi geog that BHUTAN TODAY spoke to over the phone said: “It started to rain heavily and all of a sudden we felt a tremor inside our houses. Within a few minutes, all the standing paddy crops were flattened in the fields.”
“We haven’t even recovered from the shock of the recent earthquake and suddenly the storm comes over, adding on to our despair. We just don’t know what’s happening and what to do,” she added.
According to Jigme, the geog administration officer of Udzorong, roof of a meditation centre in the geog has been blown off.
“We will not be able to talk about the actual damages because now it’s dark. First thing in the morning tomorrow, we will all be in the field to properly assess the damage,” he added.
The storm is a result of a low pressure area formed over west central Bay of Bengal and adjoining north-west bay off north Andhra Pradesh and south Orissa coast, and was moving in a northeasterly direction.
It may be recalled that Cyclone Aila too had developed over the Bay of Bengal and swept northeast India and Bhutan.
According to meteorological sources in India, there will be heavy rainfall over the next 24 hours because of the low pressure area formation.
Meanwhile, scattered rainfall activity is likely over northeastern states of India and nearby regions during next two to three days and decrease thereafter.
