The worst floods in many decades hit the capital<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The current flooding in Jakarta was being called the worst in
\nthe modern history of the city as flooding continued through
\nWednesday affecting hundreds of thousands of people following
\nfive days of incessant rain in the city and in the highlands of
\nDepok and Bogor, where the city's 13 rivers originate.<\/p>\n
The head of the City's Public Order Agency, Firman Hutajulu,
\nwhose agency is tasked with helping flood victims, said on
\nWednesday that over 233,000 people from across the capital were
\nseriously affected. Millions more were indirectly affected by
\ntraffic jams.<\/p>\n
He said that 30,000 flood victims had been evacuated to a
\nnumber of public facilities, such as school buildings, mosques,
\noffice buildings and temporary tents.<\/p>\n
The worst affected area was North Jakarta, where some 94,000
\npeople have their houses inundated, followed by West Jakarta with
\n84,000 victims, East Jakarta with about 37,000, South Jakarta
\nwith 17,867 and Central Jakarta with 1,591.<\/p>\n
The floods on Wednesday also claimed six lives, including
\nAbdul Rosyid, 20, a resident of Cawang subdistrict, Lukman, 25,
\nfrom Pondok Pinang subdistrict, Pendi ,70, and Nursellah in
\nKramat Jati district, as well as the wife and a child of Lt. col.
\nGuswandar in Cakung, North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
This year the annual floods are not only affecting slum areas,
\nbut also a number of luxury housing complexes, such as Kedoya
\nPermai and Puri Kembangan in West Jakarta, which had never been
\naffected before.<\/p>\n
The floods were also worse. \"The flood water in Ciledug has
\nreached about three meters while in the previous years it was no
\nless than one meter,\" said a former resident of the area.<\/p>\n
In Cawang subdistrict, East Jakarta, water levels were
\nrecorded at six meters, forcing as many as 3,655 people to leave
\ntheir houses.<\/p>\n
In Manggarai, South Jakarta, water inundated hundreds of
\nhouses, sparking panic among locals.<\/p>\n
The floodgate there also showed an alarming level of water,
\nwhich reached 990 centimeters. Its normal level during the rainy
\nseason is 800 centimeters.<\/p>\n
A minor incident occurred near the floodgate when dozens of
\npeople tried to force the public works officers to open the gate
\nso that the flood waters would ease in their areas.<\/p>\n
But the officers, with the help of the police, managed to
\nprevent them from causing any further disruption.<\/p>\n
Secretary of the city's control center for social
\ndisturbances, Raya Siahaan, said if the gate was opened, half of
\nJakarta, including exclusive housing complexes in Menteng,
\nCentral Jakarta, where former president Soeharto lives, would be
\nseverely affected.<\/p>\n
In Tangerang, the floods spread on Wednesday to three more
\ndistricts, Batu Ceper, Neglasari and Karawaci, inundating 3,100
\nmore houses. But no fatalities were reported.<\/p>\n
With the wider flooding on Wednesday, a total of about 10,000
\nhouses were inundated in nine districts of the municipality. On
\nTuesday six districts were also affected, namely Jatiuwung,
\nCipondoh, Periuk, Karang Tengah, Cibodas and Pinang.<\/p>\n
Tangerang Deputy Mayor Harry Mulya Zain said that based on
\nreports from the affected districts, flood waters had reached the
\nheight of between one and three meters.<\/p>\n
The municipal secretary Achmad Sudjai said that his
\nadministration would summon a number of developers, which built
\nthe housing complexes in the nine districts, to discuss how to
\nsolve the flood problems, which are being partly blamed on them.<\/p>\n
But local residents have blamed the municipal administration.
\nThey said that the administration violated its own master plan by
\ngiving the contracts to developers.<\/p>\n
Achmad said that Tangerang Mayor M. Thamrin had instructed all
\nhis subordinates to evacuate all of the flood victims to safe
\nplaces. The administration also allocated some Rp 250 million to
\nassist all the victims.<\/p>\n
In Bogor, heavy rains continued to pour incessantly on
\nWednesday, causing the upper Ciliwung river, which empties into
\nthe Java Sea after meandering through Jakarta, to overflow.<\/p>\n
The Ciliwung river's floodgate in Katulampa saw its water
\nlevel increase sharply from between 70 and 80 centimeters on
\nTuesday to over 160 early on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Aos Firdaus, a staff member at the floodgate said that if the
\nwater level reached 160 that meant they had to be on \"first-alert
\nstatus\", because the river was dangerously close to overflowing
\nits banks, which could mean unprecedented problems.<\/p>\n
Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso declared on Wednesday first alert,
\nparticularly for those who live along the Ciliwung and the
\nPasanggrahan. He urged all people living there to leave their
\nhouses immediately as the water could sweep them away at anytime.<\/p>\n
Paulus Agus Winarso, an expert of the Meteorology and
\nGeophysics Agency (BMG), said the floods in the capital were
\nworsened by the heavy rains in Bekasi with a rainfall of 250
\nmillimeters and Bogor with a rainfall of 150 millimeters on
\nTuesday.<\/p>\n
Paulus said the deluge in Jakarta Wednesday was not as bad as
\nTuesday, only measuring about 100 millimeters. \"But because the
\nrain took place for three consecutive days, it contributed
\nsignificantly to the floods,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Previously, he said that the rains during the last major flood
\nthat occurred in 1996 reached a total of 400 millimeters.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-worst-floods-in-many-decades-hit-the-capital-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}