Ministry of PU Mobilization of Emergency Bridges and Heavy Equipment to Handle the Pemalang-Purbalingga Flood

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Public Works (PU) is handling access roads and bridges affected by flash floods that hit Pemalang and Purbalingga Regencies, Central Java Province.

Efforts to accelerate are a priority to ensure that inter-regional connectivity is maintained and community activities can immediately return to normal.

Minister of PU Dody Hanggodo said that the Ministry of PU's rapid efforts were focused on restoring basic access for people affected by floods.

"Connectivity is the lifeline of social and economic activities. In a disaster situation, the most important thing is to ensure that access remains open so that emergency handling, distribution of assistance and citizen mobility can run. We are here to ensure that connectivity is immediately recovered," said Dody, quoted from a written statement, Thursday, January 29.

Dody explained that the Central Java-DI Yogyakarta National Road Implementation Agency (BBPJN) of the Directorate General of Road Construction had mobilized personnel and heavy equipment to the affected locations since the first day of receiving the report.

Heavy equipment and emergency bridge materials that have been at the location, including one PC55 excavator unit; one wheel loader unit; one flatbed crane unit; one towing crane unit; three dump truck units; one set of 30-meter-span emergency bridge; and eight armco sheets to support the temporary access recovery in Pemalang Regency.

"The handling is focused on installing emergency bridges and opening temporary access so that inter-district connectivity can be immediately reconnected," he said.

Meanwhile, the Head of BBPJN Central Java-DI Yogyakarta Directorate General of Road Construction of the Ministry of PU Moch Iqbal Tamher said that his party also sent one excavator, one wheel loader and two dump trucks.

"We are also preparing bailey bridges that we will plot in two or three locations so that emergency response access can be carried out first and we will detail the next steps," he explained.

Then, to support the recovery of road access due to flooding and landslides in Purbalingga Regency, BBPJN Jateng-DIY has also deployed one unit of D65 bulldozer and two dump trucks are already at the location and have mobilized an additional unit of D65 bulldozer.

"And one unit of PC200 excavators that is scheduled to arrive today to accelerate the opening and cleaning of the affected lanes," he said.

According to Moch Iqbal, his party has coordinated with the PUPR Regency Government of Purbalingga Regency to immediately mobilize heavy equipment, two bulldozers and two dump trucks.

"And tomorrow we will send PC200 to overcome flooding and landslides in this Purbalingga area. We will continue to coordinate with the Regional Government to mobilize the necessary tools at the location," he added.

Previously, flash floods occurred on Friday night, January 23, 2026, due to heavy rain that hit the western area of Pemalang Regency and the eastern slopes of Mount Slamet since noon.

The overflow of the Comal and Blambangan rivers caused damage to infrastructure, especially bridges and roads that are the main routes for citizen mobility and logistics distribution.

Based on the data, there are 25 affected bridges in Pemalang Regency, with a breakdown of 13 bridges completely cut off, including three bridges owned by the Pemalang Regency Government (Pemkab) which are the main access for community mobility and economic activities.

The affected bridges in Pemalang Regency include the walim bridge and the beser bridge in Gunungsari Village; the reas river bridge in Jurangmangu Village; 11 bridges were cut off in Penakir Village; one bridge was damaged in Ceklatakan Village; three bridges were damaged in Batursari Village; one bridge was damaged in Karangsari Village; nine bridges were damaged in Nyalambeng Village; and one bridge was damaged in Pulosari Village.

Now, the Purbalingga Regency Government itself has set a disaster response status for several affected villages, namely three villages in Karangreja District (Dusun Blambangan Village Kutabawa, Dusun Gunung Malang and Dusun Kaliurip Village Serang) and Sangkanayu Village in Mrebet District.