Families spend holiday trapped in floods

JAKARTA (JP): At least 167 families in Pondok Pinang and dozens of others in Bintaro, South Jakarta, were trapped in water all Tuesday night.

Heavy rains hit several other city areas causing traffic jams.

A city flood control official, Broto, said yesterday it began raining 5 p.m. Tuesday.

He said the families refused food and other donations from social services.

"But families in the Foreign Affairs Ministry housing complex in Bintaro asked only for a life boat," he said.

The other families were in the Civil Servant Cooperatives Association housing complex which is flood prone.

A few families have their own boats and said it was hard to sell their homes because of the flooding.

The complex lies near to the Pesanggrahan river.

Broto said rain inundated the houses at 11:30 p.m. and reached between 50 to 120 centimeters.

The water, which reached between 100 cm and 120 cm in nine neighborhood units in Pondok Pinangict, started to ease at 4:30 a.m, he said.

Tuesday's downpour caused heavy congestion on Jl. Gunung Sahari and the Ancol toll road in North Jakarta, Jl. Tanah Abang in Central Jakarta, and the artery road in Pondok Pinang near Permata Hijau in South Jakarta.

Drivers were trapped in bumper-to-bumper traffic on several other roads.

"It took up to four hours to reach the Ancol area from Cawang toll road," one driver said.

A container overturned on the Ancol toll road, worsening the congestion. At least 20 people died in last year in floods during January and February. (jun/ste)