BMKG Predicts Potential North Coastal Flooding Of Central Java Until May 25

Workers at the Tanjung Emas Port industrial area, Semarang, push a motorbike through a flooded floodplain caused by a tidal wave that breached the sea wall, Wednesday. (ANTARA/ ICSenjaya)

SEMARANG - The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency predicts that the potential for flooding in coastal areas of Central Java due to seawater runoff that enters the land will still occur until May 25.

Head of the BMKG Tanjung Emas Maritime Meteorology Station, Semarang, Retno Widyaningsih, said that the tidal waves in coastal areas coincided with the full moon phase and the closest condition of the moon to the earth.

He said the peak of the tidal level in the coastal area of Semarang will occur at around 15.00 to 16.00 WIB.

"At 14.00 WIB, it was recorded that it had reached 185 cm, it is estimated that it could still go up," he said, quoted by Antara, Tuesday, May 24.

A number of coastal areas in Central Java that are predicted to be hit by coastal flooding include Tegal Beach, Pekalongan, Batang Beach, Kendal Beach, Semarang's Tanjung Emas Harbor area, the Semarang-Demak Pantura route, Demak Beach, to Rembang Beach.

Meanwhile, sea wave heights that reach 1.25 to 2.5 meters also have an impact on increasing tidal flooding.

According to him, the height of the flood water runoff that enters the land is different in each region.

Therefore, he said, BMKG appealed to the community to prepare mitigation and adaptation to anticipate the impact of flooding on the coast.

Previously, tidal flooding or tidal water that overflowed the mainland with a height of more than 2 meters hit the coastal area of Semarang City, Central Java, Monday (23/5/2022), especially the area around Tanjung Emas Port.

Thousands of workers from a number of factories located in the Tanjung Emas Port industrial area saved themselves from the incident.

Apart from motorcycles and cars, thousands of sewing machines and production machines at a number of factories were also submerged by the tidal flood.

Dozens of containers or containers at the Tanjung Emas Port also seemed to be submerged by the tidal flood that occurred at the same time as high waves, and was exacerbated by the collapse of the sea wall in the port area.