4 dead, thousands evacuated in Jakarta

Torrential rain causes landslides and widespread flooding in Indonesian capital

Residents of a Jakarta neighbourhood (left) carrying their belongings as they wade through flood waters yesterday. Rescue workers (above) recovering the body of a landslide victim in Bogor regency, West Java.
Residents of a Jakarta neighbourhood carrying their belongings as they wade through flood waters yesterday. PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Residents of a Jakarta neighbourhood (left) carrying their belongings as they wade through flood waters yesterday. Rescue workers (above) recovering the body of a landslide victim in Bogor regency, West Java.
Rescue workers (above) recovering the body of a landslide victim in Bogor regency, West Java. PHOTO: REUTERS

Four people were killed and thousands evacuated from parts of Jakarta yesterday following torrential rain that caused landslides in satellite cities and widespread floods across the Indonesian capital.

Search and rescue officers recovered three bodies from a landslide which buried five people in Warung Menteng village in Bogor regency, West Java province.

The three dead were a 34-year-old woman, a 17-year-old boy and an infant. Two boys aged eight and 10 remain missing.

Meanwhile, a woman who was trapped under a collapsed underpass near the Jakarta airport on Monday evening was pulled out from the rubble early yesterday. However, the 24-year-old woman died after she was transferred to a hospital.

More than 6,500 residents in low-lying areas of Jakarta were evacuated to shelters yesterday morning. They were among more than 11,000 people affected by the floods, officials said.

"Although thousands of houses have been inundated, a lot of residents declined to evacuate.

"They opted to stay at their house, having moved their belongings to the upper floor of their house," the head of the Information Data Centre and Public Relations of the National Disaster Management Agency, Mr Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said in a statement.

City governor Anies Baswedan said the priority now was to ensure that evacuees affected by the floods receive aid.

  • 6,500 Number of residents in low-lying areas in Jakarta who were evacuated to shelters yesterday morning.

In areas such as Cawang, Cililitan and Kalibata, flood waters reached as high as 2m.

Some residents were still stranded on the second floor of their homes in Jatinegara area, TVone reported.

Housewife Sami Suprianto 43, who lives in Rawa Jati, south Jakarta, a few metres from the Ciliwung river, told The Straits Times: "We were just carrying and moving things to higher places, but the flood water came too fast. It came fast and receded fast. Water ruined a lot of our stuff."

Mr Sutopo said the flood waters had receded because the rain in the upstream areas was less intense and the downpour in Jakarta was not as heavy as the day before.

He also said the Jakarta government's river dredging programme in the past years has seen results.

The municipal government had also prepared 450 mobile and stationary water pumps across the city to mitigate the effects of the floods, he added.

Jakarta is hit by annual floods during the months-long rainy season, affecting thousands who live in riverside communities.

The national weather agency BMKG forecasts that the southern part of Sumatra will be the next region likely to see very heavy to extreme rainfall.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 07, 2018, with the headline 4 dead, thousands evacuated in Jakarta. Subscribe