Weather affects transport in Indonesia
The last couiple of days in Kuta / Seminyak ahve been windy and wet. We lost a papaya tree, our neighbor had a giant old tree crash in her garden. All over Indonesia, the recent storms have caused problems, including the ferry and air accidents in Java and Sulawesi. Bali halted ferry services temporarily, although sitting here at 2.30pm on wednesday, skies are brighter.
Here’s more from the Jakarta Post.
Bad weather hampers flights, shipments, fishing
JAKARTA (JP): Airline and shipping companies as well as fishermen from across the country had to halt their activities Wednesday due to continuing bad weather, which have caused a number of air and sea accidents.
A small airplane owned by Merpati Nusantara Airlines had to return to Mutiara airport in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu after flying for three hours Wednesday.
The plane carrying 18 passengers was heading to the nearby provincial town of Luwuk before bad weather halted the plane, which took off from Mutiara airport at 7:30 a.m. and landed again there at 10:07 a.m.
Meanwhile, authorities of seaports in Bali and West Nusa Tenggara provinces agreed to stop the operations of all ships from and to the two seaports on Wednesday because of high waves along shipping routes.
“The delay was made based on an agreement between seaport administrator, ferry owners, and ship captains,” Head of Bali’s Padangbai seaport administration I Made Sudiarta was quoted by
Antara news agency as saying Wednesday.
He said the last ship departed the Bali seaport at 10 p.m. on Tuesday. He said his office was making a regular contact with the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) to know the latest condition of weather.
Authority of Bakauheni Seaport in Lampung province said that the seaport administration has also stopped operating high-speed ships from the seaport to Merak in Banten province.
“Although the wind is not too fast today (Wednesday), we have not operated any high speed ship,” Operational Manager of Bakauheni Seaport Dadang Wijanarko was quoted as saying, addingthe halt had occurred since Tuesday.
Meanwhile, fishermen in East Java’s Madura also did not carry out any fishing activities since the recent days because of high waves. They preferred to repair their fishing equipments during such high waves.”In such high waves, fishermen prefer to repair their boats and nets with the hope that the weather will become more friendly soon,” said Mohammad, one of the fishermen.
Bad weather had been blamed for a number of sea accidents like those in Java and Sumatra waters, as well as the missing of an Adam Air aircraft on its way from East Java capital of Surabaya to North Sulawesi capital of Manado.
Apart from killing dozens of people, those accidents also caused hundreds of people went missing