Severe storm damages hundreds of houses in Denpasar

Bali Daily, 2013-12-12


More than 100 houses in Denpasar were damaged by whirlwinds Wednesday. Preliminary reports say that it caused no fatalities.

As of 4 p.m., the local authorities had confirmed that at least 75 houses were partially or severely damaged in one housing complex, identified as Jati Pesona estate on Jl. Pulau Moyo. The powerful winds also inflicted damage on temples, mosques and cars.

Earlier in the afternoon, Bali Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) operations head I Gde Made Jaya Serataberana revealed that three locations had bore the brunt of the incident.

“We haven’t seen any severe injuries,” he said.

Panji, one of the agency’s operations team members, said that personnel in Pemogan and Pedungan reported that 50 house roofs had been damaged.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) reported it had earlier warned agencies of a potential whirlwind at around 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

“The agencies should have forwarded the information to the public,” said BMKG’s data and information division head, I Nyoman Wiryajaya.

Wiryajaya explained that the public should receive alerts immediately for extreme weather, earthquakes and other natural disasters.

“We are developing an early warning system for climate-related incidents,” he said.

As of now, he said, earthquake information was accessible via the Internet and agencies could utilize this to informed.

Wiryajaya said that severe storms could occur at any time, especially during cloudy weather. Among the characteristics were the appearance of cumulonimbus (dense, towering vertical) clouds, short periods of heavy rain and thunder.

The BMKG predicted that the peak of Bali’s rainy season would be between January and February. The public must remain alert, Wiryajaya said.

Late last year, a similar whirlwind also destroyed dozens of houses and killed one person in Tabanan.

Made Astra, a weather analyst at Denpasar Geophysics Station, said the freak weather could appear when hot and cold air masses met.

The hot air on Wednesday came from Denpasar, he said.

“Right before the incident, Denpasar was 32.4 degrees Celsius. Thereafter, the cold air mass came in from the city’s southwestern area,” he said. “The meeting of these two resulted in a whirlwind around Pemogan-Pedungan-Sesetan and the areas around them.”

He explained that weather such as this normally lasted for three to five minutes and moved horizontally.

Hestri, a Pedungan resident, said she witnessed many goods, including roofs, wood and plastic bags flying about.

“Waste was everywhere,” said the printing company worker.

The picture of the tall, spiraling column of air that played havoc as it moved violently across the southern outskirts of Denpasar soon went viral across social media and instant messaging services



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2013-12-13 Baly Daily,

Dozens of people in Denpasar on Thursday started to repair their houses that were damaged by stormy weather, as they expected the wait for government aid would be too long.

“I can’t wait for government help, or else my house will be ruined by rainwater,” said Ayu, a resident of Jati Pesona estate, Pedungan, on Thursday.

The roof and windows of Ayu’s home were damaged, but she had organized some workers to repair her property with cement, roofing and wood.

Residents and workers have been busy since Thursday morning at Jati Pesona. Some houses experienced severe damage while many others required minor repairs.

Some houses, most of which were new and made from concrete and steel, were not damaged.

Other houses had roofs ripped away, with the old wooden structures unable to repel strong winds on Wednesday afternoon. Roofs blown off houses by the storm could still be seen scattered across the complex.

The Denpasar administration recorded that Wednesday’s winds had destroyed at least 175 houses, mostly luxury houses, located in Jati Pesona.

Riyanto, another resident, said his neighbors videotaped the oncoming storm while it was still far from their residences.

“It looked beautiful, a group of white clouds with a long tail shape beneath it,” he said.

“Then people started to panic when the storm neared their homes.”

Many videos of the storm were posted on the Internet, with residents saying the administration did not give them ample warning. The incident happened at around 2 p.m. when most people were not at home.

The Bali Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) has established a post nearby the destroyed houses to assist residents with health care and food requirements and record losses.

Two doctors and three nurses have been deployed at the post and dozens of residents have been treated there. “[Patients] include two children with minor injuries to their heads after they were hit by a blunt object,” said IGN Purnama, one of the doctors.

An official of the administration’s public relations division, I Dewa Gede Rai, said his side had yet to assess losses.

“Local leaders are still going from house to house and recording losses. We will use the data to distribute aid,” he said.

In January last year, strong winds also destroyed more than 50 houses in East Denpasar, resulting in losses costing around Rp 350 million (US$29,110).

The province’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said strong winds could be detected by the thick composition of cumulonimbus (dense, towering vertical) clouds along with short periods of heavy rain and thunder.



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