Heavy rain in the past two nights in Phuentsholing has people living in a private housing colony at Toorsa hunting houses yesterday.

The drain water had swollen and flooded the colony.

One of the tenants, Deki Choden said her house was flooded with human excreta.

“My house is unfit to live in,” said Deki, who has been living in it with five others.

With movement within Mega Zone 1, Deki Choden and her friend, Jamyang Seldon have been house-hunting for two days since the heavy rain started.

“The first day when it rained heavily, we slept inside the old vehicles nearby,” Jamyang Seldon said.

On the night of June 7, her husband, who is a truck driver, had returned and they, along with a few others, slept inside.

The two women have rented an apartment and decided to live together.

Thrompon Uttar Kumar Rai said the tenants in private houses, including the property owners, had been asked to vacate the place due to similar drain water flooding in the past. 

Half the settlement was dismantled and the tenants had left but seven families were still there.

“They look for the house only at the last moment,” he said.

“Thromde had been evacuating them every time there was a problem.”

Thrompon said the settlement location will be taken over for Phuentsholing-Chamkuna road construction.

Meanwhile, out of the seven families living in the colony, two had left on June 7. Two left the following day and the remaining families were planning to settle down with friends and relatives.

Thromde office helped them with transportation. 

The only remaining family that did not move anywhere, has been provided a temporary shelter in another location.

Although it had rained heavily on the nights of June 6 and 7, no major damages were reported along the Toorsa embankments.

The Phuentsholing Development and Township Project manager, Kamal Dhakal said all is good. “There are no issues at our site,” he said.

However, some minor rain cuts and debris collections were seen along the drains, he said.

The road block at Chamkuna, near the National Housing and Development Corporation Limited housing colony, due to debris from the stream water was cleared on June 8.

By Rajesh Rai | Phuentsholing

Edited by Tshering Palden