SURABAYAPAGI.com, Jember - A tornado accompanied by heavy rain caused a number of houses to collapse and fallen trees in five sub-districts in Jember Regency, East Java, on Sunday (13/1) afternoon. The Jember Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) said there were no fatalities in the incident.
"There were many points of fallen trees and houses collapsed due to a tornado in Jember, but there were no fatalities in the incident," said Head of Emergency and Logistics of the Jember Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), Heru Widagdo.
Based on data from the Operational Control Center (Pusdalops) BPBD Jember collapsed houses occurred in several locations spread across five sub-districts namely Gugut Village in Rambipuji District, Wirowongso Village in Ajung District, Mangli Village in Kaliwates District, Banjarsengon Village in Patrang District, and Erlangga Street in Sumbersari District.
"In addition to demolishing a number of houses, the tornado also caused a number of fallen trees that crossed the middle of the road and residential area, causing traffic disruptions on several roads in the city of Jember," he said.
Falling trees occur on Jalan Gajah Mada in Kaliwates Subdistrict, then in the Agung Gardens-Kaliwates Subdistrict, in the Sabtuan Market Area in Kaliwates Subdistrict, Gading Park Housing in Kaliwates District, Teuku Umar Street in Kaliwates District, Armed District in Sumbersari District and Jalan Raung in Sumbersari District.
Some of the fallen trees hit electricity poles, resulting in power outages such as in the Jember University Campus area in Sumbersari District.
"Officers in the field are still carrying out data collection and distributing assistance to victims affected by strong winds and then the Jember BPBD Jitupasna team will come to the homes of residents to assess the losses in some houses that have been hit by tornadoes," he explained.
Heru urged the public to always be vigilant about tornadoes because heavy rains accompanied by strong winds are predicted to occur over the next few days and related agencies can cut a number of branches on fallen trees that are located along the highway.
Previously the tornado also caused dozens of homes scattered in Tempurejo and Kalisat Subdistricts to be damaged on Friday (11/1) afternoon, but there were no fatalities in the natural disaster. rk
