Beware of heavy rain early next year

Beware of heavy rain early next year

JAKARTA: The Jakarta provincial administration should be prepared for possible heavy rains and floods in January and February next year, a working group on mitigating climate impact said Friday.

"We have examined the last 100 years and found that there is an increasing trend of heavy rains in January and February.

"So we must be aware of heavy rains early next year, which could be double normal falls," working group member Mezak A. Ratag told a press conference.

Mezak, a climate modeling expert from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan), said people were not thinking about the impact of flooding as it was the dry season.

"But, once again, based on our study this year, we must be aware of sharp increases in rainfall in January and February."

He said the study has been verified by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The team, established under the auspices of the Ministry of Research and Technology, consists of various agencies, including the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG). --JP