Death toll up as rains come down
Death toll up as rains come down
JAKARTA (JP): Six more bodies were fished out of city rivers, bringing the death toll to 13.
It was officially announced yesterday that the six bodies were those of a police officer, 2nd Sergeant Bambang Hartono, 25, Sugiono, a 23-year-old student, Dahlan, a 47-year-old driver, 30- year-old Supeno, an employee at a private company, Juli, a 14- year-old rice vendor, and Komaruddin, a resident of Tambora, West Jakarta.
Bambang's body was found in the Pesanggrahan river near the Policewomen Academy in Ciputat, South Jakarta, while Sugiono was found in Cikampek, East of Jakarta. Dahlan and Supeno were found respectively on Jl. Indokarya and Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta, while Komaruddin's body was found in West Jakarta.
The other six victims were found on Sunday. Another victim, Sukino of Tambora, West Jakarta, has not yet been found.
City Police Spokesman Lt.Col.Iman Haryatna said yesterday the police were still investigating reports that 10 other people had drowned.
The weekend floods also damaged the homes of half a million Jakartans, and disrupted hundreds of thousands of telephone lines.
Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said the flood inundated 139 of 265 subdistricts, and flooded homes housing 134,354 families or 566,542 people.
West Jakarta was the worst hit with 96,340 families whose houses were damaged.
Several areas were still submerged yesterday as rains fell again in some parts of the capital city.
Surjadi said the first stage of the city's rehabilitation was to repair the banks of the 13 rivers affected.
The chief of forecasting services at the Meteorological and Geophysical Agency said that rains would continue until the end of this month.
According to Paulus, the rainfall levels ranged from 100 to 300 millimeters in Jakarta this month, with South Jakarta experiencing the most rainfall.
He said the Agency had already warned all relevant government bodies. He said more rains should be expected along the North Java coast, Sumatra, Bali, Sulawesi and West and East Nusa Tenggara.
Chaotic traffic
City traffic was also still chaotic due to the flooded streets, such as Jl. D.I. Panjaitan and Jl. Ahmad Yani in East Jakarta and Jl. Yos Sudarso, North Jakarta.
Yesterday afternoon the underpass under the Dukuh Atas bridge of Jl. Sudirman was still submerged by two meters of water.
Abandoned cars are a common sights in some areas.
Motorists complained of having to travel twice the normal time to reach work while others stayed home.
The traffic congestions were worsened by traffic lights which were either deliberately turned off or damaged by the floods.
The state-owned electric company PLN turned off 15 traffic lights, after having closed down 96 on Sunday night.
Several domestic and international flights were either canceled or delayed.
One businessman bought a ticket back to Medan, when he found he could not leave Soekarno-Hatta airport. A visitor from Singapore, David Chew, said he spent two hours from the airport to the Mandarin Hotel in Central Jakarta through Kalideres, as the Jl. Sedyatmo toll road was impassable.
The floods have also affected the gas supply. The central gas station of the Pertamina state-owned oil company in Plumpang, North Jakarta was flooded and held up delivery.
A liquid gas (Elpiji) agent said supplies stopped as of Sunday from his supplier in Jembatan Lima, West Jakarta.
Meanwhile, the lone telephone at the Flood Information Center of the city public works agency has been ringing off the hook since Saturday.
Employees there said that warnings are being publicised at mayoralty offices. Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said people routinely ignore these warnings.
The latest data from a number of flood control points from the Center showed the water level is still high.
Only Depok showed a level of 130 centimeters while in Manggarai, South Jakarta, the figure was still 770.
In Pluit, North Jakarta, residents who were still belly-high in water, blamed the developer, PT Jawa Barat Indah because their area turned out to be lower than the Pluit dam.
Refugees in Kayu Putih and Kelapa Gading said they had not received any help, while children showed early signs of diarrhea and vomiting.
An operator said there was a chance that two generator-powered pumps the underpass could cleared the water out by late evening. "Provided it doesn't rain," he qualified his judgment sagaciously.
Two smaller automatic pumps could not function as they were themselves under water.
The director of PT Telkom, the state-owned telecommunications company, Setyanto P. Santosa, said if the rains stop, the 100,000 telephone lines which have been taken out by the rains will be back to normal in two weeks.
He said losses might be estimated at Rp 9 billion so far.
Telephone numbers beginning with 51, 52 and 25 were still cut off to prevent further damage to telecommunication facilities on Jl. Gatot Subroto near the overflowing Krukut river.
34,000 more telephone lines in North Jakarta may still be disrupted due to the high water level. (team)
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