3 Subdistricts In Garut Hit By Floods, Several Houses Were Severely Damaged

Residents' houses were damaged by the flood in Garut Regency, West Java, Wednesday (29/3/2023) night. (ANTARA/HO-BPBD Garut)

The flood submerged three sub-districts due to heavy rains flushed a number of points in Garut Regency, West Java. As a result, a number of residents' houses and public facilities were damaged.

"The heavy rain that occurred yesterday caused several houses to be affected, some infrastructure was also damaged, the number is still being recorded by officers in the field," said Head of BPBD Garut Regency Satria Budi, Thursday, March 30, as reported by Antara.

He said the heavy rain that flushed Garut on Wednesday, March 29 caused the flow of water from the overflowing drainage to inundate roads and residential houses in Cikajang, Bayongbong, and Banyuresmi sub-districts.

Damage to houses, he said, was reported in Bayongbong and Banyuresmi sub-districts. The damage was due to the weathered condition of the building so that it was easily damaged when hit by floods that inundated the area.

"The house that was damaged was because it was old, it was rotten, so it was easy to damage," said Satria.

He conveyed that Garut BPBD is currently still collecting data on the number of houses affected, especially those damaged, to further propose to receive housing assistance from the Garut Regency Housing and Settlement Service (Perkim).

The type of assistance for residents' houses affected by the flood, he said, could be in the form of house building materials according to the needs of residents so that their houses can be repaired and occupied again safely.

"For the houses affected have been cleaned independently, for damaged houses, we are trying to communicate with the Perkim Service to propose a request for building materials assistance," he said.

He conveyed that the flood disaster was due to blockages in waterways such as drainage, there were also roads that did not have drainage, or were no longer functioning as a result of rainwater flowing onto the road.

Satria asked the public to clean up trash from the waterways, as well as tree branches so as not to be thrown into ditches or rivers, but can be used for cooking fuel needs.

"As in Banyuresmi, there are many tree branches, they should not be thrown into the river, but can be used as firewood or burned. Don't throw them away because they can cause flooding," he said.

He appealed to the public to always be aware of the threat of natural disasters such as floods and landslides during the rainy season. "We must always be vigilant when it rains, information from the BMKG rains until April, hopefully it won't rain big again," he said.