At least eight buildings in Bambu Apus Urban Village, Cipayung Sub-District, East Jakarta, damaged during heavy rain and strong wind, Monday (12/8). Luckily, there was no casualty in the incident which caused the building owners suffered losses reaching tens of millions rupiah.

The rain and strong wind occurred for about 20 minutes. There was also thunder and all of a sudden the angsana tree fell

Five buildings are rented houses located on Jalan Bambu Apus Raya I, RT 01/01, which roofs got swept away by strong wind, while three others are located on Jalan Bambu Apus Raya I, RT 01/09. These three buildings consist of a computer rent owned by Azam (34), groceries stall owned by Bayu (40), and a food stall owned by Erizal (51). They damaged after being hit by a 15-meter tall angsana tree with a diameter of 50 centimeters.

“The rain and strong wind occurred for about 20 minutes. There was also thunder and all of a sudden the angsana tree fell,” said Erizal.

To evacuate the fallen tree, Head of Disaster Handling Section for East Jakarta Fire and Disaster Handling Sub-Department, Gatot Sulaeman, said that six officers were deployed to the location.

“We don’t want to take risk. We’re waiting for the power outage from PLN (State Electric Company). After waiting for nearly two hours, we’re finally able to evacuate the fallen tree,” he uttered.

Meanwhile, Head of Cipayung Sub-District, Iin Muthmainah, explained that there was no tornado happened in the area and the buildings were damaged just because of hit by strong wind and fallen tree.

“There was no tornado, only heavy rain accompanied with strong wind,” she stated.