C Java coastal flooding: Local govts asked to prepare emergency posts

Semarang, C Java (ANTARA) - Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo has asked the local governments of areas located along the province’s coast to prepare “complete” emergency posts for handling the impact of coastal floods that struck the areas on Monday afternoon.

"We ask for coordination of all pantura (north coastline) to stand by, especially those in Semarang city, Demak, Pati, and also Pekalongan," Pranowo said while reviewing coastal flood handling in Semarang on Monday.

The “complete” emergency posts must comprise health sector and disaster response personnel as well as public kitchens since there have been some reports of residents who could not evacuate their families due to the coastal flooding, he explained.

"We ask to give reports and who reaches me directly, I would share (their contact) and they will be called. We ask to deploy rescue team to quickly evacuate (them)," he said.

The coastal flooding occurred due to weather anomalies, therefore, the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) will keep updating the information, which people must monitor, he added.

"The forecast is still going on, and hopefully, we can prepare because the sea (level) rising is quite high," Pranowo said.

Related news: Several train travels still diverted due to Semarang's flooding

According to the governor, BMKG has predicted that sea tides will be high in the near future.

As reported, two-meter-high tides caused coastal flooding in Semarang city on Monday afternoon, especially around Tanjung Emas Port.

Thousands of workers fled several factories located in the industrial area of Tanjung Emas Port.

As observed by ANTARA, in addition to motorcycles and cars, thousands of sewing and production machines, as well as containers, were also submerged by floodwaters.

The exact value of the losses from the flood, which was accompanied by high waves and aggravated by the breaching of the seawalls in the port area, has not yet been ascertained. 

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