Dozens of houses were lightly damaged due to hail accompanied by strong winds that hit South Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) Regency, South Sumatra Province (Sumsel) on Thursday, January 12 evening.
"A total of 19 houses were damaged moderately and lightly due to hail that occurred at around 16.20 WIB," said Head of the Preparedness Section of the South OKU Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Heri in Muaradua, South Sumatra, Thursday, January 12, as reported by Antara.
He said the hail hit two villages in South OKU Regency covering Padang Sari Village and Padang Bindu Village.
The small hail with small grains lasted for about 15 minutes, destroying a number of roofs of houses in the two villages until they were moderately and lightly damaged.
"Many roofs of residents' houses made of clay tiles fell to the ground due to being hit by hail," he said.
Luckily, the incident did not cause any casualties because residents rushed out of their homes and took shelter in a safe place when the rain hit.
In addition to residents' houses, he said, hail also damaged community-owned corn plantations in the two villages, causing almost crop failure.
"The impact caused by this rare phenomenon also damaged about two hectares of corn in Padang Sari Village and Padang Bindu Village," he said.
Even though the rain has stopped at this time, Heri appealed to the people in South OKU to remain vigilant against further disasters, considering that based on early warnings from BMKG extreme weather will still occur in the area for the next few days.
"The South OKU BPBD has also established disaster management posts in a number of areas prone to natural disasters so that events like this can be overcome as early as possible," he said.
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