Blega Bangkalan Flood, Madura Island Liaison Line Is Worse

Illustration of disasters due to heavy rains. Floods hit the area in Kampung Pintu Air, Bekasi, West Java, Wednesday, October 21, 2020. (Between-Suwandi)

The flood inundated the market area and village of residents in Blega District, Bangkalan Regency in East Java Province (East Java), Sunday, January 8. The traffic flow on the route connecting Madura Island was badly jammed.

Heavy rains that on Saturday night January 7 caused the Blega River to overflow, leading to queues of motorized vehicles snaking from Bangkalan to Sampang and vice versa.

"Until now, the flood conditions have not subsided and the inundation on Jalan Raya Blega is still high," said Hasan Sadiqin, a resident from Pamekasan who was stuck in traffic jams on Jalan Raya Blega, Sunday, January 8, was confiscated by Antara.

The authorities are busy managing vehicle traffic on the highway, trying to unravel congestion. A number of motorcycles broke down after trying to break through the puddle which was 30 to 50 cm high.

According to local resident, Moh Sofiudin, the flood has inundated the village of Blega residents since Sunday, January 8 at around 02.00 WIB.

Most of the villages that were inundated by the overflow of the Blega River were on the lowlands on the riverbank, including Laok Songai Village, Segit Village, Palanggeren Village, Dejeh Songai Village, and Karang Kemasan Village.

"The flood that occurred this time was a flood of shipments, because upstream of the river there was heavy rain and reportedly until this afternoon the rain in the upstream area was still ongoing," said Sofiudin.

The flood that occurred in Blega this time was the second flood that hit the sub-district since early 2023.

On January 1, 2023, the overflow of the Blega River also resulted in flooding which affected 2,479 families in the Blega area.