The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has advised people living near the coastline, such as on the north coast of Jakarta, to be careful of the potential for coastal flooding from January 3–10, 2023.

“The public is urged to be vigilant and alert to anticipate the impact of the high tide and pay attention to updates on maritime weather information from BMKG,” head of the agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said here on Thursday.

The new moon on December 23, 2022, and the perigee on December 24, when the moon will approach its closest point to Earth in a month, could potentially increase the maximum tide level, she explained.

In addition to the north coast of Jakarta, there are 10 other regions in Indonesia that have the potential to experience coastal flooding: the Riau Islands (December 21–31, 2022), the Bangka Belitung coast (December 24–31), Banten (December 21, 2022–January 5, 2023), and the West Java coast (December 20–31).

Coastal flooding has also been forecast for the northern coast of Central Java from December 28, 2022–January 8, 2023; West Kalimantan from December 24–29, 2022; the coast of West Kotawaringin, Central Kalimantan, from December 24–29; North Sulawesi from December 20–29; North Maluku from December 25–29; and Papua from December 24–30.

BMKG said that this can disturb the community’s daily activities around ports and coasts, such as loading and unloading activities at ports, activities at coastal settlements, salt evaporation ponds, and inland fishery or aquaculture activities.

Karnawati urged the public to keep monitoring BMKG’s weather updates through the official BMKG website or by downloading the InfoBMKG application on mobile phones.

“People can see the weather forecast for the next six days, how is the rainfall, temperature, wind speed, and humidity, every three hours or six hours in every sub-district throughout Indonesia,” she added.

Source: Antara News