Barren Forest Called The Cause Of Flash Floods In Kudus

Volunteers from BPBD Kudus, Central Java, while cleaning a tourist area from mud puddles due to flash floods/ Antara

WONOSOCO - The flash flood that hit Wonosoco Village, Undaan District, Kudus Regency, Central Java, is strongly suspected because the forest in the Kendeng Mountains is denuded. So that rainwater is not absorbed into the ground when the rainfall is high

"We have directly checked the Kendeng Mountains area by looking at it directly from the air. From above it looks bald, so it is natural that high rainfall causes flash floods because the water is not absorbed into the ground, but goes straight down to the local river," said Kudus Regent Hartopo in response to the flood in Wonosoco Village in Kudus, reported by Antara, Wednesday, November 3.

In addition to causing flooding, he said, the impact of denuded forests also causes sedimentation along with the river flow that crosses Wonosoco Village, so river normalization also needs to be carried out.

For this reason, he said, his party will coordinate with neighboring district governments, such as Pati and Grobogan Regencies because the Kendeng Mountains area is indeed cross-regional.

According to him, the most concrete effort is to carry out reforestation in the area by involving many parties.

"The Kudus Regency Government will also cooperate with the private sector because if they only rely on local governments, of course, it will be difficult," he said.

The communication network for solving the flash flood problem that often occurs in Wonosoco Village is not only with neighboring districts, but also with the landowner and Perum Perhutani to jointly carry out reforestation.

As a result of the flash flood in Wonosoco Village on Tuesday (2/11) at 15.00 a.m. local time, 49 houses of residents were affected as well as local tourist attractions in the form of springs. Meanwhile, there was one house that was heavily damaged, and four houses were moderately damaged.