Emergency Handling Of Nagekeo Regency Roads Which Were Heavily Damaged By Floods Begins

Heavy equipment was unloaded at Podenura Village, Nangaroro District, Nagekeo, NTT, Friday July 1st. (AMONG)

NTT - Floods that submerged Podenura Village, Nangaroro Subdistrict, caused serious damage to roads in the area. The Nagekeo Regency Government, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) is moving to repair roads on Friday, July 1.

Head of the Nagekeo Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Agustinus Pone, said that the flood had submerged the road linking Nangaroro and Maunori in Keo Tengah District since Wednesday, June 29.

"The current handling of Podenura is temporary handling using heavy equipment to build a road the size of a four-wheeled vehicle in order to re-optimize the transportation function in the area," he said when contacted, Friday, July 1.

Podenura Village is one of the villages that has been inundated by floods following high-intensity rains that have lashed the area since yesterday until today, causing the Dowo Sude River to overflow. As a result, flood points appeared in Nangaroro District causing damaged roads.

Agustinus said the construction of the emergency road was only intended for pedestrians and light-loaded vehicles. Meanwhile, four-wheeled vehicles with heavy loads cannot use the road.

For handling landslide materials that cover the road, based on the Antara report, the Nagekeo BPBD has collaborated with the Nagekeo Public Works Department to clean up landslide points using heavy equipment.

Furthermore, BPBD mobilizes the community through the Disaster Resilient Village organization that has been formed to carry out independent activities for handling emergency disasters.

"There are several people in the village who have done self-help cleaning at the location of the road that was covered by landslides," he said.

This community cooperation activity has also been seen since Friday morning. The residents of Podenura Village have worked together to build a makeshift bridge on the road that connects the Nangaroro-Maunori route.

Head of Podenura Village, Anselmus Nuwa, added that residents made an emergency bridge by placing wooden and bamboo planks, as well as piling rocks and landslide materials at the bottom of the bridge.

"Residents worked together to build an emergency bridge with makeshift materials for two-wheeled vehicles and pedestrians to pass through," he concluded.