Over the coming days, tourists in Bali will be urged to take seriously the extreme weather warnings issued by the Bali Denpasar Center for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics.
Officers from the National Disaster Management Agency are also on standby for support.
Extreme weather warnings and high wave alerts were in place across Bali Province from March 14th to 16th and will likely be extended again when updated forecasts are revealed over the weekend.
Bali’s most popular tourist beaches are facing tidal wave warnings, and tourists are urged not to enter the water until the weather calms down.
Due to the weather warnings, lifeguards at Bali’s most iconic beaches will be operating increased lookouts; however, these shifts will not operate for 24 hours.
Bali lifeguards in the Kuta Beach area will be operating on two shifts for the next few days; the first shift takes place from 07.00-13.00 WITA and the second shift from 12.00-19.00 WITA.
A total of 117 lifeguards from the Balawista Kuta Technical Implementation Unit (UPT) have been deployed in the area.
The Head of UPT Balawista Kuta I, Ketut Ipel, spoke to reporters about the risk of tidal waves along the popular resort’s coastline.
Ipel said, “Thursday’s tidal wave was quite large, even reaching land; we from Balawista are taking preventive steps and are more alert to anticipate things that we don’t want.”
He confirmed that as part of preventive measures, his teams have also installed red flags at several strategic points along Kuta Beach.
The red flag is a sign for tourists and beach visitors not to swim or carry out activities in the sea while this warning is in effect.
Ipel explained, “Currently, the conditions on the ground are safe, but we have put up red flags, which mean that tourists are temporarily prohibited from swimming into the sea,”
Ipel added, “We always urge beach visitors to obey the signs that we have installed in places that are prone to sea accidents. I predict conditions like this will last until Purnama Kedasa [full moon]. Maybe that will be the highlight. But hopefully not.”
The next full moon will fall on the 25th and 26th March.
Speaking separately, the Chief Executive (Kalaksa) of the Badung Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD), I Wayan Darma, is calling on the public to be mindful of the impacts of extreme weather events across the island.
Not only should tourists seriously consider whether entering the ocean to swim or surf is a wise idea, but also be extra mindful of driving and even being out and about this weekend.
Falling trees, flooding, and landslides have all occurred across the island in the last few days, with the National Disaster Agency responding to dozens of calls every hour.
Darma told reporters that “we have received several reports of disasters in Badung Regency currently, especially fallen trees and landslides. For this reason, we ask the public to increase awareness of natural disasters in the area.”
Badung Regency is the region of Bali, home to the island’s leading tourist resorts and destinations, including Nusa Dua, Uluwatu, Jimbaran, Kuta, Legian, Seminyak, and Canggu.
The extreme weather Bali is experiencing is, in part, due to cyclone seeding in the area. Speaking earlier this week, the Head of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency in Denpasar, Cahyo Nugroho, confirmed that the weather front has been triggered by the formation of seeds of Tropical Cyclones 91S and 94S in Indonesia.
If bad weather persists, some tourist attractions may be forced to close their doors until the weather front passes.
Tourists planning to visit attractions like the Sangeh Monkey Forest should call ahead to confirm that they are open this weekend.
Tourism managers across the island are considering all options to help ensure visitor safety.
The Head of Alas Pala Monkey Forest in Sangeh, IB Gede Pujawan, told reporters on Friday, “There is no (ban) yet, just extra monitoring from us, the managers.
We never know about disasters, so we continue to provide extra monitoring to visitors. Hopefully nothing untoward happens.”
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Bob
Wednesday 20th of March 2024
Better weather, cleaner beaches in the UK. Can't understand why this island is so hyped up. I think the Island of the gods has really upest the gods. So many other areas in South `East Asia far more beautiful, without the hassel of the so called Bali culture. Whole island is just a money making exercise gone wrong, no culture left just dancing for the tourist dollar, then into the Arak bar after. When the money runs low let's go rob a tourist. Such a plunge into hypocracy against the tourist who is their only decent income, etc,etc,etc. What happened to the Bali of old????
Exp
Sunday 17th of March 2024
Thanks for the reminder. Time for my annual trek to Kuta beach feeling the breeze and taking in the view: garbage, erosion, filth and decay.
I still remember January 2021; no tourists but record level of garbage on the beach finally killing off the promoted idea that all the garbage in Bali was caused by tourists.
Cameron
Sunday 17th of March 2024
Rising sea levels due to climate change NO! On a wall in Newlyn Harbour in Cornwall England is one of the Sea level markers for the Wold...there are many others round the world! they were all put in position in 1871 Since then the "Mean Sea Levels" for the world have NOT changed! They go Hand in Hand with the Lloyd's Load markers painted on the side of ships! which allows for the density of the sea water! They haven't changed since 1871 either! Your Climate change extremists might like to check this out!
Wayan Bo
Saturday 16th of March 2024
Kuta beach beach 🏝 beach 🏖 don’t look nice.
Paul Morris
Saturday 16th of March 2024
Unfortunately with rising sea levels due to climate change a lot of Kuta beach will eventually disappear particularly around the tsunami evacuation centre already the footpath is being undermined in many spots along that area. The only way to save the beach is to put a 2 to 3 kilometre break water from the end of the runway across the ocean this will stop a lot of the tidal flows damaging the area , if you don’t the livelihood of hundreds of locals will be destroyed.
Exp
Monday 18th of March 2024
@Paul Morris,
Explanation why Jakarta is "drowning":
With an excess of water in the soil, many residential and commercial sectors and industries extract groundwater excessively, resulting in a major issue of land subsidence in Jakarta. In recent years, land subsidence in Jakarta has reached up to 20 cm per year in the worst affected places (Takagi et al., 2021).
Paul Morris
Sunday 17th of March 2024
@Karen, No matter what I say your a climate denier, you might want to check out the CSIRO web site that gives you facts about climate change and sea level rises , Pacific Islands are drowning from sea level rises you can check out old photos from 5- 10 years ago and they will show you how far the sea has risen and the Islands that are slowly disappearing. I’m from Altona and they aren’t complaining either.
Shorty
Saturday 16th of March 2024
@Paul Morris,
Left alone beaches have a cycle of loss and regeneration. Most of the ongoing damage happens when we build things that interrupt that cycle. Remedial works like groynes, breakwaters, retaining walls, dredging...solve nothing. They simply move and amplify the problem on adjacent areas. Your 2+ kilometre breakwater would have devastating effects on tidal flows, currents, marine life, the fishing economy....Kedonganan and Jimbaran would probably silt up, surfing along Bukit would be probably buggered. Petintenget, Batu Belig and Batu Bolong would thank you for the diverted rubbish. speaking of which, who or how is the rubbish collected by the breakwater gong to be collected?
The simplest, cheapest, less intrusive solution would be to move the centre.
Wayan Bo
Saturday 16th of March 2024
@Paul Morris, will it stop trash also❓❗️🤣
Karen
Saturday 16th of March 2024
@Paul Morris, please direct me to where your proof of rising seas is happening. Keep in mind the world seas are like a bathtub and rising seas rise everywhere not in one place only. No sea rise here in Lovina and my home town of Geelong arent complaining.