40 Minutes Of Rain And Winds Of Puting Beliung, 118 Buildings In 2 Villages Of Cilacap Regency Damaged

The roof of the MI Al Ma'arif building, Ujungmanik Village, Kawunganten District, Cilacap Regency, was hit by a tornado during heavy rain / ANTARA

CILACAP - Head of the Cilacap Regency Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Wijonardi said 118 buildings were damaged by a tornado that hit Bringkeng and Ujungmanik villages on Thursday afternoon. "The tornado occurred when the villages of Bringkeng and Ujungmanik, Kawunganten District, rained heavily for 40 minutes on Thursday at 16.00 WIB," he said in Cilacap, Central Java, Antara, Friday, February 10. In addition to causing damage to residents' homes and public facilities, the tornado also caused a number of trees to fall and hit residents' houses in the two villages. According to him, the incident resulted in a resident of Banjursari Hamlet, Ujungmanik Village, Ngadiyo (60) suffering minor head injuries due to falling debris from the house, so he had to undergo treatment at the Kawunganten Health Center and now he has returned home. Wijonardi further said that based on the assessment, the tornado that hit Banjursari and Kaliyasa hamlets, Ujungmanik Village, damaged 91 houses and two public facilities. Meanwhile, in Sidaurip and Sumbereja Hamlets, Bringkeng Village, 15 houses were damaged. "Based on temporary data, the total material loss due to the tornado in the two villages is estimated at Rp128,050,000," he said. Regarding the incident, he said the Kawunganten District Leadership Coordination Forum (Forkopimcam), BPBD, village officials, and local residents had worked together to get rid of the ruins of buildings and trees that had fallen due to tornadoes. In addition, he said, officers also provided motivation to homeowners affected by the tornado. "Today (10/2) community service is also carried out on the houses of residents affected by the tornado in Ujungmanik Village," said Wijonardi. On a separate occasion, the Head of the Technical Group of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) of the Tunggul Wulung Cilacap Meteorological Station, Teguh Wardoyo, said that extreme weather in the form of rain with moderate to heavy intensity which can be accompanied by lightning and strong winds still has the potential to occur until February 12, 2023 in a number of areas of Central Java, including Cilacap Regency and its surroundings. Therefore, he appealed to the public to remain alert to the possibility of hydrometeorological disasters in line with the potential for extreme weather. "The hydrometeorological disasters include floods, flash floods, landslides, and tornadoes," he explained.