0 Strong winds, bad weather to continue until Saturday

Strong winds, heavy downpour and sandstorms caused by tropical cyclone Narelle are predicted to affect Bali until Saturday, an official confirmed. The strong winds and rough seas had earlier damaged several public facilities, as well as houses and trees, in Gianyar, Denpasar, Badung, Tabanan and Bangli. Some ports in Bali, including Gilimanuk and Padang Bai, remain on high alert due to rough seas. I Made Kris Adi Astra, satellite reader at Bali Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said that tropical cyclone Narelle would stay around Bali for the next 72 hours, or until Saturday. 

“On Saturday, the cyclone will be heading further out of Indonesian waters, toward Western Australia,” Astra said. In Indonesia, the cyclone is centered in south of Bali’s closest neighbor, West Nusa Tenggara, with winds of 40 kilometers per hours on Wednesday. On Thursday, the cyclone was located 830 kilometers south of Denpasar with strong gusts of wind reaching 150 kilometers per hour. The wind is predicted to remain strong until Saturday. “People must remain on high alert as strong winds and torrential rains may continue to damage buildings and trees are likely to fall down,” he stated. 

In Sanur, the traditional fishing port was closed until Thursday afternoon. Numerous jukung, traditional vessels, that usually take passengers to Nusa Lembongan, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Penida lay idle. In Denpasar, officials, as well as residents, worked hand-in-hand to clean up the streets and the neighborhood. In Kuta, strong winds and sandstorms raged on the beach. Local coastguards worked hard to stop people from swimming, surfing and playing nearby. I Gusti Ngurah Tresna, head of the Kuta Beach coastguards, said that this [the sand storms] always happened every year during cyclone season. 

Around 16 coastguards and pecalang, traditional security guards, are on standby to secure the beach and look after visitors during the bad weather. Meanwhile, in Buleleng regency, fishermen could not go out to sea because of high waves and some shops selling fresh fish were out of stock. Kadek Sumedana from Munduk village said that the price of fish was rocketing as only a very few fishermen had the nerve to brave the high waves, resulting in a 90 percent fall in catches. In the coastal village of Pemaron, hundreds of residents had to be evacuated because of the higher than normal tides.

source : bali daily