Cirebon, 242 Houses Damaged by Torrents of Rain and Lightning
CIREBON - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Cirebon Regency, West Java, recorded that as many as 242 units of residents' houses were damaged by the tornado that hit two sub-districts in the area on Wednesday, March 11.
Head of Emergency and Logistics of the Cirebon Regency BPBD Hadi Eko said that the extreme weather disaster occurred at around 15.20 WIB, when heavy rain accompanied by strong winds hit a number of residential areas.
"From the results of the temporary data collection until 22.35 WIB, a total of 242 houses were affected with varying levels of damage," said Eko as quoted by Antara, Thursday, March 12.
He explained that the incident began when the area of Gunung Jati and Suranenggala sub-districts was covered by a thick black cloud indicating unstable weather conditions.
Not long after, he said, a whirlwind appeared moving from south to north and developed into a tornado that hit the residential area.
"The disaster has an impact on two sub-districts, namely Suranenggala Sub-district and Gunung Jati Sub-district in Cirebon Regency," he said.
He said that the wind caused many roof tiles to fall off and fly, damaging the roofs of a number of houses in the affected area.
In addition to damaging residents' houses, he said, the incident caused about 20 trees to fall in several points which had disrupted road access and community activities.
He said that overall, the incident had an impact on 498 families (KK) or as many as 1,455 people living in the two sub-districts.
"Public facilities are reported to have been damaged, including SD Muara Wetan 1, SD Mertasinga, TK Mertasinga, and several mosques such as Al-Hidayah, Nurul Huda, and Mushola Mertasinga," he said.
BPBD Cirebon Regency ensured that there were no reports of deaths or injuries, even though the disaster event caused quite extensive damage.
"The Cirebon Regency BPBD Pusdalops team is still conducting data collection and assessment, for further handling at the affected location," he said.