The National Centre for Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM) has cautioned the people of south and southeastern region of possible heavy rainfall in the next 72 hours.

NCHM issued a public notification on August 7.

The deputy chief with weather and climate service division of NCHM, Tayba B Tamang, said the region is experiencing light rainfall currently but it is expected to increase over the days.

He said the country is experiencing an active southwest monsoon and that there might be cases of flash flood and landslides because of the rain. “During such period, people who are travelling need to be cautious.”

The officiating director of Department of Disaster Management (DDM), Pema Singye, said that the department will issue a public advisory through Bhutan Broadcasting Service Corporation (BBSC) soon.

He said that DDM usually issues a monsoon advisory containing safety messages for the public at the onset of monsoon. “But we will issue this time too depending on the severity of the weather forecast received from the NCHM.”

The officiating director, however, said that there were no reports of flash floods due to heavy rainfall in the southern region until today.

He said that if anything occurs, the dzongkhag and thromde administrations would immediately respond to the situation and convene dzongkhag and thromde DDM to operationalise response and relief.

NCHM’s engineer and in-charge with flood monitoring and command room, Sangay Tenzin, said that NCHM is monitoring the weather.

Tayba B Tamang said there has been heavy rainfall at the end of June this year that caused many landslides and flashfloods in the country.

Phurpa Lhamo

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