Residents Fortify Damaged Bengawan Solo Dike in Bojonegoro

Bojonegoro, E Java (Antara) - Hundreds of residents have been working to fortify a part of a dike in Kanor Village, Kanor Subdistrict, Bojonegoro, which has been damaged by the overflowing Bengawan Solo River. The Kanor Subdistrict Head Supi Haryono stated here, on Wednesday that around 600 persons, comprising locals, personnel of Search and Rescue Team, Kodim 0813 (District Military Command), the Police, and Local Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) are working together to make sandbags to fortify the dike. "We have the sand to make the embankment in the locations," noted Haryono. The Bengawan Solo River dike was broken in three locations. "The water from each crack merged into a surge of floods estimated at 300-400 liter per second," stated Haryono. Head of Public Works Office of Bojonegoro District Administration Andik Tjandra clarified that the water from the Bengawan Solo River kept eroding the bottom of the dike and that worsened the leakage. "The dike may fail to stay up if the leakage is not fixed," explained Tjandra said. The broken dike had caused the water to inundate residential areas, but had not broken into homes and hundreds of hectares of rice field around it yet. Tjandra added that around 60 meter part of the dike of Inggas River, a tributary of Bengawan Solo River, was also broken on Wednesday and thus, inundated around 1,100 hectares of rice field in the Kedungprimpen, Temu and Kedungarum villages of the Kanor Subdistrict. Heavy machineries were set up to help fortifying the dike. Data from BPBD showed that water from the overflowing Bengawan Solo River has inundated 143 villages in 15 subdistricts such as Trucuk, Kalitidu, Dander, Kota, Kapas, Balen, Kanor and Baureno. As many as 8,482 family heads are affected by the floods, while 1,675 residents are displaced. The waters also inundate 4,860 hectares of rice field and 661 hectares of crops with an estimated Rp6.327 billion worth of loss. (*)