Sidoarjo Regent Gus Muhdlor Determines 3 Villages In Flood-Prone Areas

The Regent of Sidoarjo inspected the location of the flood in the Taman Sidoarjo District. (Between East Java/HO Sidoarjo Regency)

SIDOARJO - Sidoarjo Regent Ahmad Muhdlor (Gus Muhdlor) will designate three villages in Taman Sub-district, each Tanjungsari Village, Pertapan Maduretno Village and Krembangan Village to become flood-prone areas because Kali Mas is traversed.

"The plan is to include the three villages as disaster-prone areas because all three are traversed by the Kali Mas stream, which can overflow at any time and cause flooding," he said while reviewing the 40-centimeter flood that occurred in the area, reported by Antara, Friday, March 11.

Accompanied by the BPBD, the PU BM SDA Service and the Social Service, Gus Muhdlor directly inspected the houses of residents who were submerged in water as high as 40 centimeters to 50 centimeters.

"We will include these three villages as disaster-prone areas, their locations are vulnerable, because they are adjacent to Kali Mas, and at any time they can overflow like what is happening now," said Gus Muhdlor as he is familiarly known.

The young regent also checked the sluice gate whose channel is directly connected between Kali Mas and the houses of the residents. Gus Muhdlor found that there were 28 sluice gates or DAMs whose condition had been damaged, which was one of the causes of the malfunctioning of the water barrier when the water overflowed at Kali Mas.

Gus Muhdlor asked the PU BM SDA Office to immediately repair the 23 damaged floodgates. Next, suction will be carried out by deploying several pumps. To speed up desludging, the Public Works Department will install at least three pumps.

"The target is two weeks to complete the repair of the floodgates. There are five sluice gates which are large in size and the rest are small, all of which will be repaired as soon as possible. After the repair of the floodgates is complete, then desludging will be carried out," said Gus Muhdlor.

Other assistance provided to residents, including basic necessities, provision of clean water from PDAM and health post services were also prepared by Gus Muhdlor. In the three villages, a portable MCK (Mandi Washing Toilet) will also be prepared for the needs of the residents.

"According to the data submitted, later we will prepare 783 food packages for residents in the three villages, as well as clean water and a health post to serve the residents' health. This handling involves many OPDs, including the Health Office,” he said.

From a report submitted by the Head of the Taman Camat, Makhmud to the Regent of Sidoarjo, the cause of the flooding in the three villages was due to the overflow of Kali Mas water due to heavy rains a few days earlier plus water from the west.

Another cause is the condition of the ground curving downwards, such as bagging. Of the three villages, the area that was most submerged is Tanjungsari village.

"There were 11 RWs that were affected by the overflow from Kali Mas. Meanwhile, the worst thing was that the water was up to the knees of adults in RW 1," he said.