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Jakarta Post

BMKG warns of heavy rain, strong winds, tornado

At least 16 people were injured when a weak tornado hit Jelegong village in Rancaekek district, Bandung regency, West Java on Friday afternoon.
 

Dyaning Pangestika (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Mon, January 14, 2019

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BMKG warns of heavy rain, strong winds, tornado Without a roof: A man holds a boy in front of their damaged house while police officers help the neighborhood remove debris on Saturday, a day after a tornado hit Rancaekek in Bandung, West Java. (Antara/Raisan Al Farisi)

T

he Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has issued a warning about possible heavy rain, strong winds and puting beliung (weak tornado) occurring in the coming week.

“We urge everyone to be cautious in areas predicted to experience heavy downpours,” BMKG spokesman Taufan Maulana told The Jakarta Post on Sunday, saying that more information is available on the BMKG website or its official social media accounts.

According to the BMKG’s forecast on Sunday, West Java, Central Java, South Sumatra, Bangka Belitung Islands, Jambi, Central Kalimantan and Papua will experience high rainfall followed by strong winds in the next two days.

At least 16 people were injured when a weak tornado hit Jelegong village in Rancaekek district, Bandung regency, West Java on Friday afternoon.

By Saturday, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) recorded at least 640 damaged houses and 82 families taking refuge in shelters. 

One person was heavily wounded and 15 others sustained minor injuries, according to BNPB spokesperson Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

The incident also caused a power outage in some areas in Rancaekek.

Bandung regency has declared a seven-day emergency-response status until Jan. 18 to ramp up mitigation in the affected areas.

Yaya Suhaya from the Bandung Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) said the area was in need of clean water supplies, tents,and food.

“Thankfully, the local BPBD [Disaster Mitigation Agency] along with the social agency and police have provided aid, such as sembako [staple food] clean water and a back-up power generator,” he said on Saturday.

The puting beliung has caught public attention, particularly after a Facebook account for the Rancaekek local community board, Info Rancaekek, uploaded several amateur videos submitted by the residents who witnessed the tornado. 

One 27-second video showed the tornado destroying dozens of buildings in the area.

The BMKG reported that extreme weather had struck other areas in West Java, such as Sumedang, Majalengka, Cianjur, Sukabumi, Bogor and Garut.

puting beliung also occurred in Central Java’s Wonogiri, Karanganyar, Cepu and Boyolali, as well Yogyakarta, the BNPB said.

In neighboring East Java, a weak tornado damaged at least 23 houses in two villages, a community health center (Puskesmas) and electricity poles in Lamongan on Saturday noon, kompas.com reported.

“No fatalities have been reported so far,” Lamongan BPBD acting head Suprapto said as quoted from kompas.com.

Heavy downpour and strong winds toppled trees and damaged at least 89 houses in three districts in Sukabumi, West Java on Saturday. 

A hail storm had struck several other Sukabumi districts the day before.

“Winds mostly damaged roofs and ceilings. Some houses were hit by failing trees,” the Sukabumi BPBD emergency unit said on Sunday as quoted by kompas.com.

The weak tornado, also known as an EF1 or EF0 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale, originated from a cumulonimbus cloud, though not every cumulonimbus cloud creates a weak tornado.

According to the BMKG, a tornado usually forms during the transitional period between seasons, but it could also happen during the rainy season.

“Weak tornadoes usually last less than 10 minutes. Most of the time, it happens during the transitional season,” Taufan said, adding that there was a small chance that a weak tornado would reoccur in the same place. (spl)

This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post's print edition on Jan. 14, 2019, with the title "BMKG warns of heavy rain, strong winds, tornado".



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