TULUNGAGUNG - Tens of hectares of agricultural land in Tulungagung Regency, East Java were flooded due to the collapse of a river embankment in Tunggangri Village, Kalidawir District, causing water to overflow into settlements and rice fields.
The disaster triggered by heavy rains caused economic activity in several local villages to be almost completely paralyzed.
The streets were flooded up to waist-deep. Not a few houses were also submerged. Even the gardens and rice fields are even worse. However, the flood waters receded quickly as the water flowed to lower ground before returning to the river again.
"Temporary data there are 42 hectares of submerged rice fields," said the UPSDA I Brantas Disaster Management Unit, BBWS Brantas Junaedi, quoted by Antara, Friday, November 12.
The flood was triggered by a river embankment that divides Tunggangri Village, which was almost 9 meters wide. As a result, the water that is poured from mountainous areas that experience heavy rains to plain areas such as Tunggangri Village overflows to exceed the river's capacity.
There are no exact details of the damaged rice fields submerged in the flood. The Department of Agriculture and Horticulture of Tulungagung Regency is still collecting data.
However, if we refer to the initial data from the UPSDA I Brantas Disaster Management Unit, BBWS Brantas, the temporary data shows that there are 42 hectares of rice fields affected.
"The majority are in the form of corn plants. If those that do not bear fruit, the harvest will definitely fail," said Junaedi.
In addition to Tunggangri Village, water also inundated agricultural land in Jabon Village, Kalidawir District, which is located next door.
A farmer, Karim (60) had to cut down his corn plant, because it was hit by water to death. "Actually, it has been raining since last week. But only last night there was a big flood," he said.
Karim shows his young corn fruit or commonly referred to as janten (Javanese).
Even though his corn plants are 70 days old, and less than 30 days to be harvested. Because it is still young, the corn plant is used to feed cows.
"It can't be used at all other than cattle feed. If it's already filled, even if it's not old, it can still be harvested," said Karim.
Head of the Tulungagung Regency Agriculture Office, Suprapti, said that until now his party is still recording damage to farmers' crops.
From the interim report, the biggest damage was corn crop. "We will inform you when it is finished. Now the officers are still in the field doing data collection," said Suprapti.
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