T

he mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil, has apologized to the public for Monday’s flash flood, which claimed one life, saying he did not understand what had triggered it.

The sudden flood hit some parts of the city in the afternoon, including Jl. Dr. Djunjunan (better known as Jl. Pasteur and Jl. Pagarsih), sweeping away several cars and killing a resident.

“We don’t really know [the cause],” Ridwan told reporters on Tuesday.

He said the city had not experienced any floods for months, but on Monday conditions arose that triggered the high water.

“As a mayor, I am responsible,” said Ridwan, who is an architect.

Although Ridwan may not understand what led to the flooding on Monday, an official with the Bandung administration said it was caused by a drainage system that was unable to accommodate the flow of incoming water, despite it having been routinely checked.

The city administration has planned to carry out more flood prevention measures and to restore water channels along 19 roads.

Bandung Highway and Water Works Agency head Iskandar Zulkarnain said routine drainage inspections on Jl. Pasteur were carried out once every two weeks.

However, water from upstream filled up the city’s drainage system, making the rainwater stay on the streets and form powerful currents.

“Thus, the flooding,” said Iskandar.

To anticipate potential flooding in the future, Iskandar said, his office would perform inspections once a week and widen the water channels along the roads.

Some streets were impassable for approximately two hours as the floods engulfed Jl. Pasteur, while the flooding on Jl. Pagarsih swept a black Nissan Grand Livina and a three-wheeled motorcycle into the Citepus River.

Members of the Bandung Disaster Mitigation and Fire Brigade and police found the car on Tuesday at around 2 p.m. local time. The car had been carried about 500 meters downstream.

The head of a local community unit, Ceppy Setiawan, said the flooding of Jl. Pagarsih lasted for an hour. Citepus River water drowned the road and then flowed swiftly along Jl. Pagarsih in Astana Anyar.

“The rain was light but the deluge came from the north,” he said.

The black Nissan had been dragged more than 200 meters along the street before being diverted by the flow of water and carried into the Citepus River. The car was at one point stuck on a bridge railing before being swallowed by the river, which was almost 6 meters wide and more than 6 meters deep.

The three-wheeled motorcycle, which was parked in front of a garbage dumpster on Jl. Pagarsih, was also swept away by the floods before drifting down the river in the wake of the Grand Livina.

A smaller red Daihatsu Charade sedan was also dragged down the street by the floodwaters, but it lodged on solid ground before being swept into the river.

Ridwan expressed concern over the flood, especially as one person was killed when he was swept away by swift currents on Jl. Dr. Setiabudi in the northern part of Bandung as he attempted to save another person. To overcome the risk of floods, Ridwan said his office was improving the condition of the water channels along 19 streets. “The biggest water channel measures two-by-two meters,” added Ridwan.

Ridwan said he had asked his subordinates to use pumps with special pipelines to move water from a swamped location to the river, creating a “water highway” to prevent uncontrolled runoff. “This effective method has been applied in the Gedebage area and on Jl. Soekarno Hatta, which are flood-prone areas, and has been able to prevent water from pooling when it rains,” said Ridwan.