The National Center for Hydrology and Meteorology (NCHM), forecasts heavy rainfall in the southern, eastern, central and northern region for the next 48 hours.

On August 7, the centre had forecast heavy rainfall in the southern and southeastern region. That day, Sarpang dzongkhag received the highest rainfall among the dzongkhags, recording 258.2 millimeters (mm) of rain accumulation.

Last year, Sarpang dzongkhag received 324mm of rainfall on July 25.

Deputy Chief of the Weather and Climate Service Division at NCHM, Tayba B Tamang said that the northern region of Bhutan such as Gasa received heavy rainfall of 61.5 mm on August 9 this year.

He said that the severity of rainfall differs in every region of the country according to the rainfall record collected to date. “For Gasa, the current rainfall record means heavy to very heavy rainfall. For a mountainous region, this level is high,” he added.

According to the rainfall records, the highest rainfall recorded for Gasa last year was 35mm on July 22.

Tayba B Tamang said that the southern region is experiencing heavy rainfall and other regions of the country is experiencing moderate rainfall. “June, July, August and September are the months of monsoon and rainfall is expected,” he added.

He added that the past few days have been an active phase of the monsoon where rains continue for about three weeks.

Engineer and In-charge with Flood Monitoring and Command Room, NCHM, Sangay Tenzin, said that the rainfall quantity has been similar to last year. However, he added that the frequency of the heavy rainfall has increased. “The water levels have also increased frequently in the country this year,” he added.

Bhutan recorded the highest rainfall in Phuentsholing in 2000. It received 495.3mm of rain on August 2 that year.

Phurpa Lhamo