Manado Heavy Rain, Floods Occur In A Number Of Locations

ILLUSTRATION / PIXABAY

MANADO - The city of Manado, North Sulawesi (Sulut) was hit by heavy rain. As a result, the flood inundated a number of roads.

Floods were reported to have occurred on Jalan Bethesda, the location of the Ratumbuysang Hospital. In addition, floods occurred on Ring Road Citraland, Malalayang.

"In Malalayang the water level is knee high," said Edwin Monding, a volunteer for North Sulawesi's BPBD when contacted by VOI, Friday, January 22.

According to him, it had been two hours of heavy rain flushing Manado. Edwin said that flooding in a number of roads occurred because the drainage channels were unable to accommodate water discharge.

"It's still raining heavily now," said Edwin, being contacted at 14.53 WIB.

Peak Rainy Season

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reminded the public to be aware of the potential for extreme weather, the peak of the rainy season is predicted to occur in January to February 2021.

"People are urged to remain alert to potential extreme weather and are asked to always 'update' weather information from BMKG information channels," said BMKG Deputy for Meteorology, Guswanto, quoted by Antara, Wednesday, January 20.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) asked the public to increase awareness of hydrometeorological disasters such as floods and landslides. Moreover, Indonesia is currently entering the rainy season.

"During the rainy season, the potential for hydrometeorological disasters is still there, especially the soil conditions are now saturated due to being filled with rain before," said LIPI Limnology Research Center researcher Iwan Ridwansyah, when contacted by Antara, Tuesday, January 19.

Iwan said that Indonesia will experience a peak rainy season in January-February, so it needs to be more vigilant about hydrometeorological disasters.

According to Iwan, areas that have the potential for landslides are those that have a high slope. People in these areas must of course be vigilant by paying attention to the appeal from the local Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD).