River Flow in Rawagempol Karawang Village Congestion Leads to Floods, Regency Government Deploys Heavy Equipment to Handle Blockages

JABAR - The Karawang Regency Government deployed several heavy pieces of equipment to deal with piles of garbage that clogged the river flow in Rawagempol Kulon Village which led to flooding.

"Heavy equipment immediately descended to clean up the garbage in Rawagempol Kulon Village, Cilamaya Wetan District. The goal is for the water to flow smoothly, so it doesn't overflow into residents' homes", said Karawang Regent, Cellica Nurrachadiana, in Karawang, Sunday, March 5, confiscated by Antara.

She decided to unload the heavy equipment after receiving a report that the flooding in Rawagempol Kulon Village occurred due to the river being blocked by a Pertamina pipe that ran across the river.

The river water in that area also overflowed due to quite a lot of piles of garbage.

The report was received when the regent distributed aid to flood-affected residents in Astina Hamlet, Rawagempol Kulon Village, Cilamaya Wetan District.

Meanwhile, according to data from the local Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), at the beginning of last week, floods in Karawang had submerged 19,813 housing units spread across 28 Karawang.

In addition, the flood disaster also submerged 20 educational facilities, 34 places of worship and thousands of hectares of rice fields.

But now it is reported that most of the flood locations have started to recede.

The flood disaster occurred due to high rainfall accompanied by the overflow of several rivers in the Karawang area.

Regional Secretary of Karawang, Acep Jamhuri, said that his party had asked the central government to normalize or dredge the river in anticipation of preventing the overflow of several Citarum River tributaries.

"We have submitted recommendations regarding river normalization as an anticipatory measure to prevent an increase in water volume in several tributaries of the Citarum River", he said.

He conveyed that the recommendations were submitted as input material for planning the Citarum Watershed (DAS) program for the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs and Investment of the Republic of Indonesia through the Citarum DAS Task Force.

It is considered necessary to normalize the tributaries of the Citarum River as part of efforts to deal with floods in several areas around Karawang.