Drizzle marks no heavy rain to drop soon
Leony Aurora The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The drizzle poured in several areas in Jakarta in the past week marks only the transition period from dry to wet season, says an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG).
"Rain of low intensity occurred sporadically and lasted less than 30 minutes," Achmad Zakir of BMG's forecast division said on Friday.
Rain usually started in the south followed by the west, east, central, and finally the north part of the capital, he explained.
"Currently it falls only in South Jakarta and sometimes in West Jakarta," he added.
Hard wind is expected during this transition period and in the first month of the rainy season, forecasted to begin early or mid November.
The monthly rainfall in the wet season would not exceed the average level, said Zakir. However, as flood is related with daily intensity of precipitation, the possibility of flooding still looms.
"People should clean their neighborhood and the dredging (of rivers and canals) need to be completed thoroughly," he said.
It takes only 75 mm of rain a day over three consecutive days to cause floods in Jakarta.
The Jakarta administration has announced that it would hold drills for disaster mitigation in the second week of October to anticipate the reoccurrence of heavy floods and to increase public awareness.
Two years ago, the capital witnessed the worst floods in its modern history, with as many as 168 of 262 subdistricts swamped. The calamity claimed at least 31 lives, forced more than 300,000 residents to leave their homes, and paralyzed transportation for days.
The administration is counting on the planned East Flood Canal, which will link with the existing West Flood canal, to ease annual flooding. However, it has stumbled upon people's resistance to sell their lands to proceed with the future canal's construction.
As of last year, the East Jakarta administration had managed only to acquire 62 hectares of 183 hectares that it is assigned to. North Jakarta had acquired only 5.2 hectares of a total 78.5 hectares.
Meanwhile, Tangerang administration has prepared Rp 6 billion (US$654,664) in anticipation of floods this year, Antara news agency reported.
The fund would be used to dredge mud in Cisadane river and to build flood retaining walls, said Tangerang mayor Wahidin Halim. The administration would also clean out the garbage in Sipon river, which flows across the municipality.
There are 47 flood-prone areas in Tangerang, which are inundated by water between 50 cm and 120 cm deep. Like Jakarta, the municipality often has to face excess water flowing down from Bogor, which hosts the upper stream of Cisadane river, and Puncak in West Java.