2 Days Of Burst And Strong Winds, 52 Trees In Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Ambruk

The fallen tree trunk covers parts of the Transmigration Road in Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara Province. (ANTARA/Nirkomala)

A total of 52 trees collapsed due to heavy rain accompanied by strong winds hit six sub-districts in Mataram City, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) Province since Thursday, December 22, yesterday.

"On Thursday (December 22) five trees fell, one of which fell on a car on Langko Street, then 47 trees fell and three days in sequence," said Head of the Mataram City Environmental Service (DLH), HM Kemal Islam, in Mataram, NTB, Tuesday, December 27, confiscated by Antara.

Although it is relatively large, Kemal admitted that the impact of extreme weather is still less when compared to the number of trees that fell on December 10, 2022. Considering that at that time, heavy rain, hail, and strong winds hit Mataram caused 52 trees to fall in a day.

Overall, Kemal said that the extreme weather conditions that had occurred since early December 2022 had caused 104 trees to fall in Mataram City.

According to him, the Mataram City DLH has deployed a team to clean up fallen tree trunks and branches in the road so as not to interfere with vehicle traffic.

"Alhamdulillah, today is just the stage of cleaning up the remaining tree branches," he said.

He said residents in need could take advantage of fallen tree trunks. "If there is none, we collect pieces of fallen trees in the office, while we make the leaves organic fertilizer," he said.

Kemal said Langko Street, Pejanggik, and Selaparang are vulnerable areas because they have many large old trees that are prone to falling.

"We have repeatedly reminded the public that when there is heavy rain accompanied by strong winds, we avoid this route," he said.

Kemal said that even though on average they were old and prone to falling, walnut trees in the Langko, Pejanggik, and Sepalarang roads could not be cut down carelessly considering that the trees were one of the city's icons.

"Therefore, if someone falls, we must replace it immediately. So what we can do is cut to reduce the burden," he said.

According to him, so far the Environment Agency has routinely cut the branches of these protective trees to minimize the risk of trees falling when strong winds and heavy rains come.

"We can only take anticipatory steps, but the name is a disaster beyond our control," he said.