Indonesia investigates after first large-scale whirlwind strikes, injuring at least 33 people
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A man stands near damaged houses following a whirlwind at Sukadana village in Sumedang, West Java province, Indonesia, on Feb 22.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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JAKARTA - Indonesia was struck by a whirlwind of a scale previously unrecorded in the country that injured at least 33 people and damaged buildings, government officials said.
After the whirlwind swept the town of Sumedang in West Java province on Feb 21, Dr Erma Yulihastin, a climatologist at government research body Brin, said the agency would reconstruct and investigate the incident.
In a post on social media app X, formerly known as Twitter, she said it was similar to the kind of violent winds that often occur in the Northern Hemisphere.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysical Agency has described the event as “angin puting beliung” or whirlwind, due to its limited intensity and scope of destruction.
Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency said the people who were hurt suffered slight injuries.
In a video seen by Reuters, the winds, pirouetting in the sky, blew off the roof of a factory. In another video broadcast by news channel Kompas TV, trees shook violently in the town’s main street.
A third video showed the front panel of a convenience store collapsing and residents screaming.
Ms Kay Tiara, a Sumedang resident, told Reuters she had felt panic as the winds approached.
“My father was sitting in our terrace and suddenly he saw plastic just flying and twisting. Not long after that, the strong wind came near my house,” she said.
“The roof of my house immediately flew away. My family and I took cover inside my house,” she added. REUTERS
