BRIN: Changes In Land Procedures Cause Puting Beliung 'Tornado' In Rancaekek

Illustration: Building conditions along Jalan Raya Bandung-Garut appear to be experiencing severe damage due to a tornado in Sumedang Regency, West Java, Thursday (22/2/2024). (ANTARA/Rubby Jovan)

JAKARTA - Researcher from the Main Expert of the BRIN Center for Climate and Atmospheric Research, Eddy Hermawan, stated that the change in land use procedures from green to industrial areas was one of the causes of tornadoes in Rancaekek, Bandung Regency, West Java.

"Since February 19 and 20, 2024, there have been indications that the area has experienced intensive warming," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, February 22.

Eddy explained that water vapor from the north, south, west, and east, all entered Rancaekek, while in other areas or areas around Rancaekek did not experience this phenomenon.

The intensive warming made Rancaekek, he said, suddenly become a low pressure center area. Large cumulonimbus clouds gathered in Rancaekek.

"Why can it rotate? This is another mechanism, maybe because there is pressure from the wind, say at (high) 850 (meters) from Australia, then it rotates. Well, that's where the tropical cyclone was formed," said Eddy.

He explained that when the sky was getting dark and thick, the wind had started to rise, there was no more sunlight, and small objects had begun to lift, then it was the phase of forming a tornado from growth to peak.

When the wind starts to rotate, the tornado will swallow all areas experiencing a low-pressure phenomenon.

"Delta T (difference of two temperatures) is sharp. During the day it was very hot, the night was very cold. That's what makes the Rancaekek area different from the area around it," said Eddy.

"The area that received sunlight for more than 12.1 hours has the potential to be a center of low pressure, so that the clouds around it will be sucked in," he concluded.

On February 21, 2024, 16.00 WIB, a tornado centered in Rancaekek hit Bandung Regency and Sumedang Regency.

The West Java Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) recorded 534 buildings damaged by the disaster. A total of 835 heads of families (KK) in five sub-districts in the two districts were affected.

West Java BPBD Youth Expert Public Relations Pranata Hadi Rahmat said from data in Sumedang Regency there were 413 affected families and 422 affected families in Bandung Regency.