Last night’s flash floods in Boomdeling Gewog in Trashi Yangtse have washed away bridges and destroyed irrigation canals and paddy fields. Heavy rainfall is said to have triggered floods at around 6 in the evening.
Flash floods damaged three Reinforced Cement Concrete or RC bridges in the gewog. Of that two bridges near Tshaleng Village were also washed away. Tshaleng Village is just a kilometre away from Trashi Yangtse. The other one was washed away above Boomdeling.
Flash floods were reported along three streams that join Kholongchu. Apart from motor-able bridges, two foot bridges were washed away, an excavator has also been damaged and paddy fields are filled with flood debris.
“I have one acre of rice fields. Of that 90 decimals have been destroyed by floods. Now I am left with paddy plants in only 10 decimals of land. I am helpless,” said one of the victims, Ngawang Chojey.
Another farmer, Tshering wangmo said “All my hard work has gone down the drains since floods damaged my paddy plants.”
As a temporary measure, the Gewog Administration Office has constructed a foot bridge near Tshaleng Village this morning.
“Since roads from Tsarzam to Dungzam are looked after by Department of Roads, they are planning to clear the blockage by today itself,” said Boomdeling Gup, Mani Wangda.
However, he added “From the Gewog centre to Taphel, the water level is till high and we are skeptical about how it can be cleared although dzongkhag administration has agreed to help us.”
Meanwhile, the Dzongkhag Disaster Management team visited the affected areas to assess the extent of damages. Trashi Yangtse has witnessed similar flash floods in the past.
