Floods have hit Semarang and Pekalongan municipality and regency, Central Java, causing disruption in train trips. In Jepara, Central Java, fuel distribution was hampered by high sea waves.
By
KRISTI DWI UTAMI
·4 minutes read
KOMPAS
January 1, 2023, floods in Semarang City began to recede.
SEMARANG, KOMPAS — The floods that occurred on Saturday (31/12/2022) still submerged several areas in Semarang municipality on Sunday (1/1/2023), including residential settlements, public places and railroads.
At the Tawang-Alastua road section in Semarang, the water level was about 25 centimeters high as it was observed at 10 a.m. local time. At that height, the water submerged the railroads.
"This situation has affected the operation of several train trips on the northern Java route. Four train trips have had to be canceled and ten train trips have had to be rescheduled," Ixfan Hendri Wintoko, the spokesperson of PT Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) for Semarang Region IV Operation, said.
The four canceled train trips were the 282F Blora Jaya train for Semarang Poncol-Cepu, the 271F Blora Jaya train for Cepu-Semarang Poncol, the 186 Kamandaka train for Purwokerto-Semarang Poncol and the 191 Kamandaka train for Semarang Poncol-Purwokerto.
The ten train trips that had to be rescheduled included those serving the route between Semarang Tawang and Malang, East Java, as well as those from Semarang to Gambir and Pasar Senen, Central Jakarta.
"PT KAI apologizes to all train service users. Affected service users will be given compensation for the delays," Ixfan said.
Passengers whose trips were canceled had their tickets refunded plus the cost of the booking fees. Affected passengers have been given up to seven days either to use the tickets on the rescheduled trips or refund them.
Tawang Station was still submerged by the floods up to 34 cm high on Sunday afternoon.
DOK PMI KOTA PEKALONGAN
The atmosphere of evacuation at the Kelgo Village Mosque, East Pekalongan District, Semarang City, Sunday (1/1/2023). As of Sunday afternoon, 1,982 people had taken refuge in 34 evacuation points in Pekalongan City due to flooding.
Evacuees
In the other parts of Central Java, the floods submerged thousands of houses as found in three districts in Pekalongan municipality: West Pekalongan, East Pekalongan and North Pekalongan. Water levels ranged from 10 to 70 cm.
"As of Sunday afternoon, 1,982 people have taken shelter at 34 evacuation points. Our mitigation focus is to cater their needs," said Dimas Arga Yudha, an official of the Pekalongan Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) in charge of the mitigation and response section.
The agency coordinated the mitigation efforts to pump out water from the inundated areas. Leaking embankments were patched up by using sand sacks to temporarily hold back the water from spilling into settlements pending permanent patching reinforcement.
In Pekalongan regency, the number of evacuees reached 899 people as of Sunday afternoon. They mostly took shelter at mosques found in Karangjompo, Pacar and Samborejo villages and PT Lokatex. An Islamic elementary school building at Samborejo also turned into a shelter.
Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo said his administration would continue to monitor the flood through coordination with regional heads whose areas were affected by the disaster. He also followed the weather development in the province reported by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).
Navy’s involvement
Bad weather also affected the residents of Karimunjawa island, Jepara, Central Java, who struggled to access fuel in the last 10 days because state-owned gas and energy company PT Pertamina's vessel was unable to sail to Karimunjawa due to high waves.
On Saturday (31/12), gas stations ran out pertalite and biodiesel fuel, while only 300 liters of dexlite remained.
Brasto Galih Nugroho, communication and CSR manager for Central Java region of PT Pertamina’s subsidiary Patra Niaga, said a Pertamina vessel in Semarang had loaded 40 kiloliters of pertalite and 95 kiloliters of biodiesel to be sent to Karimunjawa. However, the vessel was unable to set out for Karimunjawa due to bad weather and high waves.
Ganjar said that he was coordinating with chief of staff of the Indonesian Navy (KSAL) Admiral Muhammad Ali for the possibility of using a Navy ship to assist in the transportation of fuel to Karimunjawa.
"The only solution is to send fuel using a warship belonging to the Indonesian Navy to break through the high waves. I have already coordinated with the Navy chief, who promptly said ‘okay’. What is left now is to deal with technical matters. We have to be creative and collaborative to solve [problems]," he said.
