Flash Floods Hit Mount Ijen Areas, Inundating 2 Bondowoso Villages

TEMPO.CO, Bondowoso - Flash floods hit two villages in the Mount Ijen area, Bondowoso Regency, East Java, on Sunday evening, February 12, 2023. The floods carrying mud and sand materials inundated Sempol Village and Kalisat Village of Ijen District. As a result, 79 families in Sempol Village and 13 families in Kalisat Village were affected and forced to evacuate.

Based on information compiled by Tempo, high-intensity rain that drenched the region since Sunday afternoon triggered the flash flood. As of Monday morning, the two villages were still flooded. 

A number of heavy equipment was deployed to clean up the mud material on Jalan Raya Dusun Sempol II.

The Bondowoso Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) stated that the water channels in the villages were unable to accommodate the flow of rainwater from higher ground. 

The agency officers and volunteers evacuated a number of affected residents. Evacuation posts were opened at the Sempol Mosque and Arabica Homestay in Kalisat Village. The health service post was set at the Sempol Village Hall. 

The Bondowoso District Health Agency recorded 1,000 people in a vulnerable group, consisting of 22 infants, 458 pre-elderly people, and 315 other people.

Chief Executive of the Bondowoso BPBD, Dadan Kurniawan, said the cleaning efforts had been carried out with the help of various groups until Monday afternoon. "There was another flood after rain with moderate to high intensity this afternoon but it quickly receded," Dadan said on Monday, February 13, 2023.

The volcanic activity of Mount Ijen or Ijen Crater has increased since early January. As of January 7, 2023, the Volcanology Center for Geological Hazard Mitigation (PVMBG) of the Geological Agency set the alert status of the volcano on the border of Banyuwangi Regency and Bondowoso Regency at Waspada or alert level 2.

DAVID PRIYASIDARTA

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