Flood sweeps across Jakarta

Flood sweeps across Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of people fled their homes, some to
hotels or relatives, others to their rooftops, yesterday as
floods struck many parts of Jakarta following heavy rains the
previous night.

Reports that three people were killed could not be immediately
confirmed. One of the reports said that a boy was drowned and his
body found in a stream in Pondok Indah, South Jakarta.

Almost no part of the city inhabited by nearly 10 million
people was spared, with at least five rivers -- the Ciliwung in
the east, Malang in the southeast, Pesanggrahan in the southwest,
Sunter in the north and Krukut in the center -- overflowing.

Many of the city's thoroughfares were transformed into
streams.

Jl. MH. Thamrin became a one-way street as one side of it was
covered with water. In front of Sarinah department store
building, the water reached one meter high. Jl. Gajah Mada and
Hayam Wuruk were also filled with water. Monas Square was covered
by 60 centimeter high flood water, with City Hall affected as
well. The water flooding the Kota railway station was one meter
deep, and Jl. Yos Sudarso and Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan in the
north were impassable with water reaching shoulder level.

The Islamic Hospital in Cempaka Putih and the Mintohardjo Navy
Hospital in Bendungan Hilir were also affected.

With most schools in the city closed for last part of the
Ramadhan fasting month and government offices and most private
companies closing on Saturdays, Jakarta was spared from the even
greater havoc usually associated with floods.

Still, there was major congestion throughout the city, made
worse by cars breaking down on flooded streets and the fact that
many traffic lights were out of order.

Public transit vehicles, including taxis, were hard to find.
The state-owned PPD bus company, said it only operated 500 of its
800-strong fleet of buses because many drivers failed to turn up.

Train crash

Many train services were canceled because tracks were
inundated. In the morning, a passenger train crashed into a
cement truck near the Tanah Abang station. Fortunately, no one
was hurt.

The few people who managed to get to work yesterday said they
spent between two to three hours more than usual in getting to
their destinations.

Radio stations were broadcasting reports about the flooding
and about traffic jams from early in the morning. Most of them
urged people to stay at home unless they really had to go out.

Thousands of people arriving at the Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport were stranded as there were only a handful
of buses and taxis to take them to the city.

Departing passengers also had difficulties getting to the
airport.

Garuda Indonesia said 45 of its domestic and regional flights
were delayed because passengers and crew turned up late, but all
of its international services left on time.

"We apologize for the inconvenience," Garuda spokesman Jansius
Siahaan said.

Merpati Nusantara Airlines canceled two flights, one for
Semarang and another for Yogyakarta, due to a lack of passengers.

Sempati Air also reported delays and disruptions in some of
its services because the computer at its City Check-In Terminal
in Senayan was switched off due to the flooding.

Among the casualties of the flood was the Davis Cup match
between Indonesia and South Korea at the Senayan clay court, and
the roll call at the Jakarta Military Command, which was meant to
launch the security operation for the Idul Fitri holiday.

TVRI also went off the air in the morning because the basement
of its main office in Senayan was flooded. The state television
station managed to broadcast on time for the evening program but
its sister station Programa 2 was taken off the air, head of the
TVRI Central Station Sudiyanto said.

"We apologize to our viewers," he said.

Thousands of telephone lines were also out of service. A
spokesman for the Jakarta office of PT Telkom said the telephone
numbers temporarily out of order were those beginning with 515,
520, 521, 527, 526, 525, 570, 571, 575, 251, 250, 345, and 384.

PT Satelindo which operates cellular telephone services also
reported disruptions for connections to cable telephones but its
director Saleh Gunawan said the company was restoring the lines.

Even many areas thought to be safe from floods all this time
were inundated. One of them was the housing complex for the staff
of the Indonesian Institute of Science off Jl. Gatot Subroto.

"This has never happened to us before," Mochtar Buchori, a
retired researcher with the institute, said of the knee-deep
water in his house.

"It happened so fast," said John Wallace, an Australian
visitor to Indonesia who is staying in the Bendungan Hilir area.

The City Public Order Office said the floods affected 99
subdistricts in all five mayoralties. In Central Jakarta, among
the worst affected areas were Petamburan and Sumur Batu
subdistricts. In West Jakarta, the mayoralty office was inundated
by two meters of water and Tanjung Duren Utara and Jelambar Baru
were the worst subdistricts affected. In South Jakarta, the
Petogogan subdistrict was covered by two meters of water. In the
North, virtually the entire Sunter district was affected. In the
east, the elite Pulo Mas housing area was inundated.

Blackouts

People whose homes were flooded said their isolation was made
complete by blackouts and telephone service outage.

The City Public Order Agency sent out dozens of rubber
dinghies to the worst affected areas to help with the evacuation
of area residents but they were barely sufficient. Soldiers were
also sent out to help and the Jakarta police were also out in
full force to try to restore some order.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, which warned of heavy
rains for Jakarta a few weeks ago, said rainfall reached 216
millimeters (9.3 inches) in Central Jakarta between Friday and
Saturday, 231 mm in North Jakarta and 99 mm in South Jakarta.
These figures are exceptionally high for February.

This is the second major flood disaster to hit Jakarta in just
over a month. On Jan. 7, 10 people were killed and thousands of
people were left homeless when the Ciliwung River overflowed.

Last month's flood, described as the worst to hit the capital
city in nearly 20 years, came with little warning because heavy
rain was not coming down in Jakarta, but rather in Bogor, in the
upstream area of the Ciliwung river.

As people were trying to cope with the new round of flooding
yesterday afternoon, the authorities were warning that the floods
could get worse, based on the readings of water levels in the
upstream regions of rivers in Depok and Bogor.

The chief of the Public Security Bureau Office R. Sitindjak
said the high tide in the Jakarta Bay meant that the flooding
would recede slowly. (team)

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