Dozens Of Vehicles Are Still Trapped In Floods On Jalan Pantura Demak

Jalan Pantura Kudus-Demak, Monday (12/2/2024). (ANTARA/Akhmad Nazaruddin Lathif)

Dozens of four-wheeled vehicles or more are still trapped in floods on Jalan Pantura Demak-Kudus, Central Java, because the flood inundation is still high, although the inundation has begun to recede compared to before.

"Until now, the number of vehicles that are still trapped is around 10-15 vehicles," said Head of Traffic Unit of the Demak Police, AKP Lingga Ramadhani, as reported by ANTARA, Monday, February 12.

In order to regulate the flow of traffic from Semarang to Surabaya to remain smooth, he said, the flow of vehicle traffic was diverted to Mijen to Jepara and Kudus.

Meanwhile, the road to Kudus via the Pantura route was temporarily closed because in Karanganyar there were still puddles of flooding starting from the Wonokedal gas station.

Along Jalan Pantura Demak-Kudus, there are still vehicles that are flooded, some of which have dismantled their cargo, such as trucks loaded with chickens because 80 percent died, while the rest who are still alive are given to the public kitchen of the Tanggulangin Terminal.

Antok, a tronton truck driver from Surabaya, admitted that since Thursday (8/2) he had to wait for his truck which was still trapped in the flood.

"Every night I have to monitor the cargo because some of the carpets are lost to people," he said.

The plan, he said, was for the carpet for the cattle to be delivered to Bandung from Surabaya. It turned out that when crossing Jalan Pantura Kudus-Demak after getting off the Tanggulangin Bridge, the flood came and the tempo was already high.

"Because the puddle almost reached the driver's seat, in the end I had to find a refugee camp with other truck drivers who were also trapped in the flood," he said.

Meanwhile Agus, the truck driver loaded with plastic bottles, admitted that he was still lucky because his car could be towed to the Tanggulangin Bridge after being flooded.

"It's just that we can't continue the journey to Jakarta because the truck engine is not yet normal, we are worried when it goes on strike in the middle of the road," he said.