Waves And Strong Winds, KSOP Bans Ships From Sailing To Komodo Island For 6 Days

The tourist ship docked at Marina Waterfront City Port Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency, NTT Province, Sunday (10/3/2024). (ANTARA/HO-Gecio Viana)

LABUAN BAJO - Port Authority and Port Authority (KSOP) Class III Labuan Bajo prohibits tourist boats from sailing to Komodo Island Komodo National Park (TNK) for six days from March 11-16, 2024 due to bad weather. The sailing ban is due to the potential for high waves and strong winds according to weather forecasts by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG). "There is a weather forecast with strong waves and winds that must be anticipated for safety," said Head of Class III KSOP Labuan Bajo Stephanus Risdiyanto when contacted in Labuan Bajo, West Manggarai Regency, Antara, Sunday, March 10. During this time span, he continued, the Labuan Bajo Class III KSOP did not serve the provision of Sailing Approval Letters (SPB) to ships wishing to sail. KSOP Class III Labuan Bajo has issued a notification letter to the captain of the tourist ships (Notice to Mariners) regarding the prohibition of sailing on Saturday (9/3/2024). He added that the Labuan Bajo Class III KSOP only provided SPB to ships sailing to Rinca Island, which is still in the Komodo National Park area. However, SPB was given only for speedboats. "If the phinition ship is not yet able because its maneuverability is limited. However, it will adjust weather forecasts and reports in the field because there may be changes in the future," he said. He also explained that the Labuan Bajo Class III KSOP would issue a delay in ship departures if the weather worsened. Meanwhile, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) issued an early warning for the people of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) to increase awareness of the potential for extreme weather until March 14, 2024. "It is hoped that the public will not panic and anticipate the impact more," said Head of Class II Meteorological Station El Tari Kupang Sti Nenotek in Kupang, Friday (8/3). He explained that the potential for extreme weather in the next week due to vortex inflows or Cyclonic Circulation in the Southwest of Australia, thus forming a slowdown, meeting, and wind bend area in the NTT region. In addition, atmospheric dynamics conditions are also supported by the active phenomenon of Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO), Rossby Equatorial Waves, as well as warm sea surface temperatures and fairly wet humidity in each atmospheric layer. This indicates that the supply of water vapor in the NTT region significantly supports the increase in rain cloud growth which is quite intensive. "So, it has the potential for the NTT region to have moderate to very heavy rain, even extreme rain accompanied by lightning and strong winds," said Sti.

This extreme weather potential, said Sti, could cause hydrometeorological disasters, such as extreme rain, floods, flash floods, landslides, strong winds and tornadoes.