Semarang City Welcomes New Year 2023 As Floods Hit

Liputan6.com, Semarang - Far from new year's celebration, the capital of Middle Java, Semarang, is flooded again after heavy rain affected the region on Saturday. Area near governor's office also flooded.

The height of water varied in different areas. In Simpang Lima area, center of Semarang, the water was about 40-50 cm. Netizens also spread photos and videos of the severity of the floods.

As of Sunday morning (1/1/2022), the floods still disrupted the roads in the city, including railways in Tawang Station and Alastua stations.

Tawang is the biggest station in Semarang which connects to Jakarta in the west and Surabaya in the east. This station is located in the historic Old Town area.

As part of the solution, the state-owned Kereta Api Indonesia (KAI) which manages the trains operations decided to make a detour for the trains via Balapan Station in Solo, southern of Semarang.

This is not the first flood in Semarang this year. The city was also flooded in the middle of 2022. Environmental group WALHI blames the local government for the lack of preparation and the buildings at the water catchment area. 

"The worsening climate crisis in the last few years causes the hydrometeorological disasters (floods, landslides, strong wind, etc) to increase, whether the quantity or the quality. Seeing the current disaster is proving the efforts for mitigating climate crisis in Semarang is still low," said WALHI of Middle Java on Twitter.

One citizen, Endah (63), who lives in Tlogosari said the flood was worse compared to the previous years. The water breached into her house, so she had to evacuate her household items.

Governor Ganjar Pranowo has informed the regents and mayors to stay alert and move fast to handle the floods in their respective regions. He also published a special New Year message for his followers on social media.

Greater Jakarta was able to calmly transition to 2023 without the predicted extreme weather. Government of Jakarta also allowed the fireworks parties as the central government has revoked the social restrictions (PPKM). 

No particular incident took place in Jakarta's NYE, but the public left 74 tons of trash. That figure was lower than the previous years which suggested fewer people who celebrated this year. 

"This is maybe the first celebration after the pandemic, the mass was not as crowded as usual, and it was relatively more orderly," said Asep Kuswanto, the head of environmental bureau in DKI Jakarta.

But previously, scientists predicted bad weather at the end of the year. One scientist from the National Research and Innovation Agency of Indonesia (BRIN) predicted a great storm to land in Jakarta on 28 December 2022, but fortunately the storm did not happen.

The prediction from BRIN's scientist gained attention from the  Agency for Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics (BMKG) who said that there would be no storm, but predicted extreme weather in the NYE.

Meanwhile, although President Joko Widodo's government has revoked PPKM, he instructed the members of the public to wear masks. 

"The public must increase the awareness and alertness in facing the risk of COVID. The use of masks in the crowds and closed spaces must be continued," said President Jokowi.

Maulandy Rizky Bayu Kencana, Lizsa Egeham, and Delvira Hutabarat contributed to this report.