4 Districts Began to Be Submerged by Floods, BPBD urges residents around the Palangka Raya watershed to be alert

Illustration of Palangka Raya City. (Central Kalimantan.go.id)

KALTENG - The Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) of Palangka Raya City appealed to people in the lowlands and watersheds (DAS) to be aware of rising water levels due to flooding.

"Currently, there are four kelurahan areas that have started to have puddles of water. This is due to flooding due to overflowing rivers because they are no longer able to accommodate the water discharge", said Head of BPBD Palangka Raya City, Emi Abriyani, in Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan Province (Central Kalimantan), quoted from Antara, Monday 12 September.

Villages that have the potential to be affected by the flooding include Tanjung Pinang Village, Bukit Tunggal Village, Palangka Village, Petuk Katimpun Village, Bereng Bengkel Village, Kameloh Baru Village, Danau Tundai Village, and Marang Village.

She said, from the results of the monitoring of the Palangka Raya BPBD team, the water level due to the overflowing of the river ranged from 5-35 centimeters.

Out of all sub-districts that were flooded, in some areas there were no houses submerged, others had an impact on the occurrence of puddles of water on neighborhood roads. However, community activities are still going on normally.

The puddle of water began to be detected five days ago because the upstream area of the Kahayan River and its flow through Gunung Mas Regency continued to rain.

"For this reason, in order to provide information on potential flood disasters, the BPBD team periodically monitors river water levels at designated monitoring points", said Emi.

Currently, the Palangka Raya BPBD is also monitoring for the preparation of locations to establish health posts, evacuation posts and volunteer posts if a sudden flood hits. This means that the local government has begun to prepare steps to deal with various possible flood disasters.

"Equally important, along with increasing rainfall and high water discharge, we ask the public to monitor their electrical installations. Do not let things happen because of negligence", she said.