T

he provincial Disaster Mitigation Agency warned the public to stay alert for possible floods and landslides in central and northern Bali following days of moderate- to high-intensity rain in the area.

“The most vulnerable areas lie in northern Bali and we have requested the local Public Works Agency to carry out maintenance work on guttering and water channeling infrastructure,” agency head, Anom Agustina said.

He revealed that a large number of villages in northern Bali did not have adequate guttering and sewerage networks, a fact that made them more vulnerable to flooding. For instance, the Celukan Bawang area in Buleleng regency has repeatedly being inundated in the past due to its poor water channeling infrastructure.

Agustina disclosed the agency had mapped the island’s most vulnerable areas for landslides, which were spread along the island’s central region, from Tabanan, Gianyar, Karangasem and the southern part of Buleleng.

The flood-prone areas include the northern part of Buleleng, the southern part of Jembrana, Badung and Denpasar. The map clearly indicates that the resort island’s poorest regions, such as Buleleng and Karangasem, are also the most disaster-prone regions.

The high-intensity rain that soaked the island early this week triggered several minor landslides in Gianyar and Tabanan. Landslides affected cliffs and hills near villages in Sidan, Gianyar, and in Kediri, Tabanan. Fortunately, the landslides did not result in fatalities.

 “The number of flood-prone and landslide-prone areas has steadily increased due to the massive land conversions taking place all over Bali,” Agustina stated.

As many as 1,000 hectares of rice fields are converted annually for housing, tourism facilities and other man-made structures. High-speed development has also taken place in the island’s primary water catchment areas, such as Bedugul and Payangan. All these phenomena have affected the island’s ability to cope with torrential rain during the rainy season.

In November, Denpasar suffered its worst flood in decades, which was triggered after only one full day of rain. The ensuing flood inundated hundreds of houses (some in areas that had never previously experienced flooding), destroyed a bridge and killed one man.

The agency is currently finalizing the installation of an internet-based disaster management application donated by the French Red Cross. The application will enable the agency to build a digital database that can be shared with other agencies.

The weather agency (BMKG) predicted that moderate- and high-intensity rain would pound the island until early next year. The agency warned that some of the rain would be accompanied by heavy winds.