Residents escaped unhurt after a water tank at Samdrupling Dhemkhong in Gelephu Thromde burst this morning. Officials said the incident could have left a trail of destruction if the water released from the outburst headed towards larger residential areas. The 600 thousand-litre zinc-aluminum tank, which is the largest such tank in Gelephu Thromde supplies water to a portion of the municipality with around 50 households.
The incident happened at around 5:30 am today. According to the tank caretaker, he checks the water level in the tank at 5 every morning. Similarly, this morning after checking the water level, he said he returned home to do some household chores but the tank burst open suddenly.
“I climbed to the top to check the water level of the tank, which was also almost full put off the power and returned home to churn milk. Then, the tank burst and water started entering my home. I was stunned and the water carried away my mobile phone and cash,” said Ragala, a caretaker.
Although the water entered some nearby houses, there were no casualties.
“I was sleeping when the tank burst with a loud sound. I thought it was a flash flood as water started entering my bedroom at once,” said Purnima Rai, a resident.
Thromde officials were not able to ascertain what caused the tank to rupture. Gelephu Thrompon Tshering Norbu said affected residents will be supplied water from another tank. He said inspection would be done in the other three tanks to prevent similar incidents in the future.
“Thromde officials including engineers and plumbers are here at the site but we could not determine the actual cause. However, we doubt that the internal nuts and bolts could have rusted. But we were told by the construction company that rusting is improbable.”
The facility was constructed in 2019 at a cost of around Nu 3 M. The tank is located almost three kilometres away from Gelephu town.
Karma Wangdi, Sarpang
Edited by Kipchu
