Wild weather damages levees

SINGARAJA (Jakarta Post) : Powerful waves and high tides in December and January caused extensive damage to levees in North Bali's Buleleng regency, an official said.

"We are currently conducting a survey to determine how many areas were damaged," the head of the Buleleng Public Works Agency, Nyoman Gede Suryawan, said Friday.

He did not disclose the estimated total of financial losses caused, saying levees were the responsibility of the provincial administration.

"The levees were a provincial project and were built with provincial budget funding. Our responsibilities only include documenting damage and reporting it to the relevant agencies at the provincial level," he said.

The levees were constructed to minimize erosion caused by seawater in the area.

During the high tides, the worst damage was recorded in the Buleleng harbor area, where parts of the levee were completely destroyed.

"Heavy rain, large waves and high tides that reached their peak in the middle of December caused the damage. Now seawater can freely hit the land," a local resident said.