Hundreds evacuated as floods hit Jakarta again
200 neighbourhoods affected as heavy rain paralyses vast areas of Indonesian capital
Sign up now: Get insights on Asia's fast-moving developments
Motorists trapped on a flooded toll road (above) in Bekasi, West Java, while hundreds of residents in Jakarta had to be evacuated by search and rescue teams yesterday, after torrential rain pounded Indonesia's capital.
PHOTO: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
JAKARTA • Torrential rain flooded Indonesia's overpopulated capital yesterday for the second time this year, paralysing wide areas and prompting rescue workers to evacuate people by boat from murky, brown waterways.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said more than 200 neighbourhoods had been hit. "We are concentrating on mitigation. We have prepared all resources to be deployed," he told reporters.
The flooded areas were in Jakarta and the satellite cities of Bekasi and Tangerang, with water in the Ciliwung River that runs through the capital rising to dangerous levels, according to the national disaster mitigation agency BNPB.
Heavy rainfall may continue to lash the greater Jakarta area under the influence of two tropical cyclones, Esther in the Gulf of Carpentaria and Ferdinand in the Indian Ocean, said the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Agency on Twitter.
Hundreds of people had been evacuated yesterday, said Mr Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the national search and rescue agency Basarnas.
Jakarta's search and rescue team posted videos on Twitter showing women and children being ferried by boat and rescuers steering past a half-submerged minivan.
Power was shut off to more than 1,600 substations to ensure safety. Some schools were closed and rail and bus operations were partially hit.
The Jakarta administration suspended traffic restrictions on its main streets after the meteorological bureau recorded more than 200mm of rainfall in some areas, showers considered extreme by the forecaster.
Mr Nana Setiawan, a 50-year-old resident of East Jakarta, said his house has been hit by floods four times this year.
"I moved here three years ago, and as far as I know, normally the floods will happen only once a year or even once in five years. But this year, it has already been four times, and today is the worst," he told Reuters.
At least 60 people were killed and thousands forced to flee their homes early this year in the deadliest flooding to hit Jakarta in more than a decade. The capital and its surrounding areas are home to more than 30 million people. Parts of the city are below sea level and uncontrolled population growth has exacerbated the problem.
While heavy rainfall may continue to lash Jakarta until Sunday, the rest of Indonesia may have an extended wet period until the middle of next month, Dr Dwikorita Karnawati, head of the Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysics Agency, said. The rain may cause flash floods and landslides, she warned.
She said data showed extreme rain events occurring with rising intensity in the past 30 years and with a higher frequency in the past 10 years.
REUTERS, BLOOMBERG
