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)