REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, CIREBON -- Acting Governor of West Java Bey Triadi Machmudin said that five rivers in Cirebon were immediately normalized and their levees raised to prevent catastrophic flooding during the rainy season.

“The Ministry of PUPR through the Great Hall of the River Region (BBWS) this year is normalizing the river and there will also be technical planning to raise the levee,” Bey said while reviewing the flood site in Mekarsari Cirebon village of West Java, Thursday (7/3/2024).

He explained that in the near future his side will write to the Ministry of PUPR to realize the normalization targeting the Ciberes, Ciputih, Singaraja, and Ender Rivers.

According to Bey, this normalization needs to be applied to reduce the sedimentation rate in the five rivers, so that when heavy rains hit the Cirebon region, the water discharge does not overflow and prevents the settlements of local residents from being inundated.

On the other hand, he said, the revitalization of the river embankment must also be done, since the average is already more than 25 years old, which he fears will not be able to withstand when the water discharge increases.

“We hope that the normalization and revitalization of the levees will be carried out simultaneously in the five rivers. But we will inform the Ministry of PUPR first,” he said.

The Bey also requested that local governments in Cirebon, Indramayu, Majalengka, and Kuningan (Ciayumajakuning) immediately conduct a joint evaluation, especially on the issue of river normalization as a long-term effort to prevent flooding events.

That way, people living in flood-prone areas can live normally and not experience prolonged trauma as a result of the disaster.

“I also saw that there were people who had prepared a levee in front of their house, but they were still stuck because the water was coming in quite a lot,” Bey said.

He added that the floods that inundated settlements in the eastern Cirebon region are now gradually receding and a number of communities are doing devotional work to clean their dwellings of silt material.

“We appreciate the people, village authorities, military, and police who have worked together to deal with this flood,” Bey said.

Earlier, based on data from BPBD of Cirebon Regency, the flood disaster that occurred since Tuesday (5/3), hit 36 villages in nine subdistricts of the district.

As a result of this disaster, about 20,000 units of houses and 83 thousand residents in eastern Cirebon were affected by the flood disaster, and two people died.

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