President: Demak Floods Are Overcome Through Embankment Repairs And Cloud Slides

Screenshot - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) when delivering information to journalists after checking food prices at Sekadau Traditional Market,

DEMAK - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) said that the handling of flood disasters triggered by extreme rain in Demak Regency, Central Java Province, was taken by the government, starting from the patching of collapsed embankments to shifting clouds. "Yes, this is indeed very extreme rain, because extreme rain is 150 millimeters, here it is 238 millimeters. Very extreme," said President Jokowi after reviewing flood victims at SMK Ganesa, Demak, Friday, which was followed by the Presidential Secretariat network in Jakarta. President Jokowi said the extreme intensity of rain triggered a number of embankment infrastructures to burst with varying leakage widths. According to President Jokowi, the embankment was broken due to the capacity of the river exceeding the normal threshold. "But last night the width, which broke 15 meters, last night at 1 o'clock, was closed, finished for four consecutive days during the day and night," he said. In addition to closing the broken embankment, President Jokowi continued, the government through the Weather Modification Team (TMC) is trying to shift a collection of clouds towards the sea to reduce rain in Demak Regency and its surroundings. Meanwhile, the rest of the puddles that ambush flood-affected areas will be sucked in using pumps to speed up the receding process. "It's been down from two meters. Earlier, we received reports that almost everything was half a meter, 50 cm. But whatever it is, it still interferes with residents' activities so that the third one will do pumping later," said President Jokowi.

The National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) stated that the flood conditions that hit Demak Regency triggered six embankments to divide the river flow.