Flood kills three in Jakarta

Flood kills three in Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Three people were killed and thousands were
forced to flee their homes over the weekend in the worst floods
to hit the capital since 1976.

The floods began pounding several areas of Jakarta on
Wednesday, when relentless torrential rains caused river banks to
burst and swell to dangerous levels.

Water levels were still high as of yesterday.

Police warned of even more floods given that the rain pounded
Bogor and Depok, the two areas there the Ciliwung River, which
overflowed during the weekend, originates.

The bodies of two victims, who drowned on Thursday, were found
at the Ciliwung floodgate in Central Jakarta by a search and
rescue team on Saturday night, Kuseini Budiantoro, head of the
city public order office, said yesterday.

They were M. Rizal and Cecep, both 19 years of age and
residents of Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Dedy Usman, the third
fatality who drowned while helping his girl friend evacuate her
belongings in Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, was buried yesterday.

Meanwhile, a resident of the Bukit Duri subdistrict, South
Jakarta, identified as Heri, was washed away by the Ciliwung
river and was still missing as of yesterday, a subdistrict
official said.

At least six Kampung Melayu residents were hospitalized after
spending an entire day in shoulder-deep water, after which they
climbed onto a roof to wait for help, a resident told The Jakarta
Post.

Soeharto, the head of public works office, attributed the
cause of the flooding to days of rains last week around Bogor, 60
km south of here.

He said the floodgate indicator in Depok, 30 km south of here,
showed that the Ciliwung river had reached 4.35 meters by 2 p.m.
last Saturday.

"This has never happened before," Soeharto said.

The water in the areas along the Ciliwung in East, Central and
South Jakarta rose to more than two meters high.

Thousands of Jakartans were evacuated to nearby safe shelters
such as mosques, school buildings and government offices. The
sudden floods forced most to leave their belongings behind.

According to local residents, many were also separated from
their relatives.

"We did not have time to save our belongings as we never
estimated that the water would get that high," Bana, a resident
living around 50 meters from the river, told the East Jakarta
mayor who was observing the area.

Bana added that at around 1 a.m. on Sunday, his neighbors
started to cry for help and rescue team with rubber boats,
ambulance, fire fighter, and police came to evacuate them.

"Some residents insisted on staying in their houses, most of
which were two stories, but we kept trying to evacuate them using
rubber boats," Tresna said.

In East Jakarta yesterday, many housing complexes and main
roads such as Jl. Otto Iskandardinata, Jl. Kampung Melayu Besar
and Jl. Jatinegara Barat were still inundated and causing serious
traffic jams.

The chief of the Kampung Melayu subdistrict, Tresna Suminta,
said yesterday that Jl. Jatinegara Barat was closed to all
vehicles heading to Jl. Jatinegara Timur.

He said that since Saturday the subdistricts of Bidara Cina
and Kampung Melayu had been inundated and that more than 5,000
families have been evacuated to safe shelters.

At 1 a.m. yesterday, rising water demolished the embankment of
the Ciliwung river at Petamburan, Central Jakarta, and quickly
inundated thousand of houses in the subdistrict.

Central Jakarta Mayor Abdul Kahfi said yesterday that about
9,800 people had been evacuated from his mayoralty and that a
total of 30,000 residents were affected.

In South Jakarta, six subdistricts located along the Ciliwung
-- Kebon Baru, Bukit Duri, Rawajati, Pengadegan, Pejaten Timur
and Tanjung Barat -- were hit by waters rising to 3.5 meters
yesterday.

The South Jakarta mayoralty said that about 17,000 people have
been evacuated and that food and medicine have been sent to
temporary shelters.

Meanwhile, Governor Surjadi Soedirdja said yesterday that this
year's floods indicated that the condition of the city's rivers
are poor and need to be dealt with.

"The flooding has proven that we have failed to overcome the
problems due to differences in concepts of preservation of the
environment," he said

Surjadi said the fact that the width of Ciliwung river in
Kampung Melayu has shrunk from 10 meters to five meters was
partly responsible.

He added that the people and the city administration should
work together to overcome the floods and he urged citizens to
stop living on the river banks and to keep the rivers clean.
(yns/lnt/29/03)