13,102 Kudus Residents Affected By Floods, Residents Start Evacuating

Residents carried their children while crossing a flooded road in Mejobo Village, Mejobo, Kudus, Central Java, Tuesday, November 30, 2021. (ANTARA PHOTO-Yusuf Nugroho)

A total of 42 residents of Jati Wetan Village, Jati District, Kudus Regency, Central Java, began to evacuate following their settlements being flooded due to high rainfall.

According to the Head of Jati Sub-district, Fiza Akbar, the number of displaced residents continued to grow from Thursday morning to evening as many as 42 people from 13 families.

Floods in Jati Wetan Village, he said, began to occur since Wednesday, March 13, but due to high rainfall, residents were finally forced to evacuate because the floodwaters were increasing.

If rainfall increases, the number of displaced residents also has the potential to increase, considering that the water discharge in the Wulan River is also quite high because the water from Jati Wetan has been flowing into the Wulan River.

For evacuation locations, he said, it was provided at the Jati Wetan Village Hall and TPQ Al-Quranul Fikri.

Regarding the existence of refugees at the village hall, the local village government is also coordinating with the Social Service, Women's Empowerment, Child Protection, Population Control and Family Planning in Kudus Regency.

Floods in Jati District did not only occur in Jati Wetan Village, but also occurred in Jetis Kapuan Village, Tanjung Karang, Jati Kulon, and Pasuruan Lor.

Meanwhile, those who fled, he said, were only from Jati Wetan Village, because so far they had frequent floods and often fled.

Kasi Kedaruratan dan Logistik Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD) Kudus Munaji menambahkan, tujuh desa di Kecamatan Mejobo, satu desa di Kecamatan Kaliwungu, lima desa di Kecamatan Jati, dan satu desa di Kecamatan Jekulo dan Kecamatan Undaan terdampak banjir.

Munaji said that the total number of houses affected by the flood, he said, was 150 houses with 13,102 residents.

Floods that occurred, he said, were caused by overflowing river water, spread across nine villages, such as Kesambi Village, Temus, Tumpangkrasak, Ngembalrejo, Pladen, Tenggeles, Prambatan, Setrolangan, and Jati Wetan.