Five residents were killed four were injured in flash floods in Bhutan

New Delhi: Flash floods killed five of a family last night, and half a dozen persons were injured as several houses and paddy fields were damaged. It has been raining for the past three days in the Himalayan kingdom.

The Kuensel daily newspaper of Bhutan reported, "A rumbling sound at around 2:30 am woke up Sonam Dorji and his wife yesterday. Fearing something bad happened, they went out to check. Before they could come out, to their utter shock, they saw their neighbour's house hit by a flash flood that had brought down mud, muck and stones."

The floodwater hit their neighbour's house, diverting it to theirs. Sonam Dorji ran inside, grabbed his chainsaw and started cutting his two-storied traditional house's jugshing (window bars). They escaped the window before the floodwaters forced them into the ground floor. The couple ran to the other bank of Kurichhu river at Jasabi in Kurtoe gewog, Lhuentse and sought shelter in the forest.

The rescue team that reached the disaster spot said the flood thoroughly washed away three houses and partially damaged three others. An entire family of five were among the dead when their house was washed away. The injured were rushed to the hospital.

A resident and a relative of the deceased family, Kingala, said the five who were killed were siblings and cousins aged between 60 to 70 years. All of them lived in the house constructed seven to eight years ago.