Ari Supriyanti Rikin, Jakarta – Jakarta, Banten, and Central Java have entered rainy season this week, prompting the national weather service agency to issue warnings on potential floods and landslides in the region.
"The beginning of the 2019/2020 rainy season for the Jakarta area, Banten, Central Java will happen from late November to early December," Adi Ripaldi, the head of climate analysis and information at the Meteorology Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said on Friday.
These are the only 16 percent of Indonesia having seen the rain, but Adi said the rainfall would be short with high intensity, which can lead to floods and landslides.
The rain season in the West Java region, Yogyakarta, East Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Papua, and Kalimantan will begin shortly in the early to mid-December, Adi said
"The peak of the rainy season in 2019/2020 for the regions of DKI Jakarta, Banten, Central Java, Bali, West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara occurred in February 2020," Adi said.
Meanwhile, the peak of the rainy season for West Java, the Special Region of Yogyakarta, East Java, Sulawesi, Papua, and Kalimantan will be in March 2020.
Agus Wibowo, the head of the center for environmental data information and public relations at the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), said the last rainy season saw more than 3,000 events of disasters related to the hydro-meteorological phenomenon like cyclones, floods, and landslides.
"[Most of the disasters] occur a lot in Java, the indications are due to environmental damage," Agus said.
BNPB data showed cyclones accounted for 1,127, or about a third of 3,383 disasters from January to November this year. The storm mostly affects Bogor, Cilacap, Jepara, Semarang, Sukabumi, and Magelang.
Floods are most common in Gresik, Garut, Bogor, Pati, Cirebon, and Mojokerto.