Gemoedstoestand: Bandung Flood

A few days ago, exactly on Monday (10/24), a sudden flood engulfed Bandung. The sudden flood hit some parts of the city in the afternoon, including Jl. Dr. Djunjunan (better known as Jl. Pasteur and Jl. Pagarsih), sweeping away several cars and killing a resident. I was in school and it rained heavily, but I wouldn’t think there would be a flood. On my way home from school, the streets were full of cars and seldom moving, so I waited in school until 4 p.m. and then I went home.

I saw nothing on my way home because I was sleeping. Later at home, I heard news about the sudden flood. It was said by Bandung’s Bina Marga road agency head Iskandar Zulkarnaen that the extraordinary heavy rain unexpectedly flooded the riverbank beyond its maximum capacity. Thus, overflowing water from the Citepu River inundated Jl. Pasteur and Jl. Sukamulya.

"Because of the excessive heavy rain, the river is unable to contain the water," he said to reporters in Bandung as quoted by kompas.com.

The flash flood reportedly took the life of Ade Sudrajat (30), after he fell into the water and was swept away while trying to assist his friend escape from flooding on Jl. Setia Budi. His body was later found in a gutter.

A black Nissan had been dragged more than 200 meters along the street before being diverted by the flow of water and carried into the Citepus River. The flood also swept away a three-wheeled motorcycle, which was parked in front of a garbage dumpster on Jl. Pagarsih and a smaller red Daihatsu Charade sedan.

The mayor of Bandung, Ridwan Kamil, has apologized to the public for Monday’s flash flood. As the mayor, he said, he will be responsible upon the disaster which made up to 16 billion Rupiah loss. He will keep sought on to repairing the drainage system.

“Indeed as Bandung mayor I am responsible. The flood countermeasures keep continues on. This year, Bandung city government has fix up the drainage system in 19 roads. It shows that our yearly installments due to the limited budget,” he said.

Through his Instagram account, Kamil uttered his apologize to all Bandung citizens, and also invited us as Bandung citizens to take our part on keeping our city clean and preventing flood in the future.