Madiun is the worst-hit regency in East Java, with the flooding of 38 villages in eight districts. The floodwaters range from 30 centimeters to 3 meters in depth. Local residences have been flooded as well as 230 hectares of agricultural land, mostly rice fields ready to harvest. Around 14,280 families have been affected.
By Thursday evening (3/7/2019), high floodwaters remained in Balerejo, Madiun and Mejayan districts. Electricity was cut off and residential areas were dark. The residents gathered in several areas that still had light, such as along the Madiun-Surabaya highway.
“The people need food and candles to light their houses,” said Muslimin of Jeruk Gulung village, Balerejo district.
Flooding in Madiun, Ponorogo and Ngawi regencies was caused by the overflowing Bengawan Solo (river) and its many tributaries, including Bengawan Madiun, Kali Jeroan, Kali Piring and Kali Glonggong.
The overflowing Kali Jeroan flooded many homes, while Kali Glonggong flooded kilometer markers (KM) 604-605 on the Kertosono-Ngawi toll road and the Surabaya-Madiun national highway in Garon village, Balerejo district. Traffic became disrupted, as the toll road was impassable to small vehicles.
Police and personnel from state toll road operator PT Jasa Marga directed small vehicles to exit at Caruban tollgate, resulting in a long queue of an hour long.
East Java Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) head Subhan Wahyudiono said that 15 regencies were flooded, mostly in the western region of the province, including Madiun, Ponorogo, Ngawi, Magetan, Trenggalek and Pacitan. In the central region of the province, Kediri, Blitar, Bojonegoro and Nganjuk regencies were flooded. To the north, Tuban, Lamongan, Gresik, Sidoarjo and Probolinggo were flooded.
Regional River Management Center (BBWS) head Charisal Akdian Manu said the Bengawan Solo watershed (DAS) had experienced extreme rainfall of 150 millimeters per day since Tuesday. Saturated soil was unable to absorb the excess rain and exacerbated the condition.
“Water flowed across the ground and directly into local rivers. The rivers exceeded their capacity, causing them to overflow and several dams to collapse,” Charisal said in Madiun.
East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa said the administration was focusing on disaster response to ensure that the affected people received proper assistance. Thereafter, the provincial administration would coordinate with all affected regencies and cities, especially those at risk of disaster, as well as relevant agencies like the Bengawan Solo BBWS.
In Trenggalek, a landslide occurred at KM 15 of the Trenggalek-Panggul highway in Panggul district and in Pucanganak village, Tugu district.
Acting Trenggalek regent Mochammad Nur Arifin said that 10 out of 14 districts in the regency were flooded. He has declared a regency-wide disaster alert.
Ponorogo Regent Ipong Muchlissoni said that 10 out of 21 districts in Ponorogo were flooded, while a landslide cut off a road on Mt. Wilis.
The East Java BPBD’s analysis showed that major rivers ran through the flooded regions, and that landslides were connected to land criticality.
Subhan said that holistic disaster mitigation efforts involving the central, provincial and regency administrations were required to prevent or reduce the impacts of future disasters. This included better land use and management as well as engineering, like constructing dams, elevating roads and building reservoirs.
Other regions
Yogyakarta Special Region has urged its residents to be on the alert for possible disasters from extreme weather.
On Wednesday (3/6), floods and landslides struck Gunung Kidul, Kulon Progo and Sleman regencies as well as Yogyakarta municipality due to heavy rain.
Emergency response head Danang Samsurizal of the Yogyakarta BPBD said on Thursday in Gunung Kidul that heavy rains might continue through the coming week.
Data and information head Djoko Budiyono of the Yogyakarta Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) station said that Sleman and Gunung Kidul saw extreme rainfall of more than 100 mm per day on Wednesday.
Djoko said that several factors had caused the extreme rainfall in Yogyakarta. The first was the wind currents over Java in recent months, caused by low pressure in the southern Indian Ocean. “The current has curved, resulting in increased air mass and raincloud formation,” he explained.
Another factor was the surface sea temperature of more than 30 degrees Celsius in the seas to the north and south of Java.
In Jakarta, BMKG climate and air quality information head Siswanto said the higher rain intensity in March had been forecast in February. The formation of cloud clusters were connected to the wet phase of the Madden-Julian Oscillation, which replaced the preceding dry phase.
In West Java, the Bandung regency administration planned to raise its disaster alert status to disaster emergency status on Friday (3/8). The emergency status would be in effect for seven days, and can be extended for another seven days.
Bandung BPBD head Akhmad Djohara said the decision was made during a coordination meeting on Thursday based on the inputs from the heads of 10 out of 31 districts that were flooded on Wednesday.
The regency has recorded 22,105 affected families in Baleendah, Dayeuhkolot, Bojongsoang, Rancaekek, Ibun, Kutawaringin, Cicalengka, Banjaran, Majalaya and Cileunyi districts. (NIK/BRO/HRS/AIK/SEM)
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