Flood toll rises to three with discovery of man's body
JAKARTA (JP): The corpse of a man missing since Wednesday was found on Friday morning caught between the bamboo poles of an open-air toilet on the banks of the River Krukut in Cipete Selatan, South Jakarta.
The discovery was made by Mampang Police officers, who had searched the river for the missing man.
Cilandak Police chief Maj. Nurhayati identified the corpse as security guard Sabeni, 50.
"According to his son Achmadi, 17, both father and son had gone down to River Krukut at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday, right in front of the Puri Mutiara housing complex, since the waters were coming in big and fishes were aplenty. They had decided to fish," Nurhayati told reporters.
"At about 10 a.m., Achmadi went home to neighborhood unit 003 in Cipete Selatan to get more hooks for the rods. When he returned, his father was no longer there. Achmadi thought his father must have found a better position to fish. So, Achmadi fished till noon.
"When his father had not returned by nightfall, he was still not unduly worried. His mother, Sunaya, 43, told him to look for his father on Thursday morning. Achmadi walked along the river, and found his father's wallet. He suspected something was wrong and reported it to us on Thursday evening."
The police search party worked till late Thursday night, took a break and resumed the search on Friday morning, with the help of Mampang Police officers.
"The officers later found the body caught between the bamboo poles of an open-air toilet. We suspect that Sabeni was caught in a flash flood."
As reported earlier, the bloated corpse of Raden Ajeng Siti Hadihastuti, 54, was found in Lebak Bulus on Thursday. Hadihastuti was with Pancasila University law lecturer Musmarini Wiati, 58, when Musmarini's Toyota Corona sedan was submerged in a sudden flood near a bridge opposite the Wisma Arum Manis housing complex in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta, early on Wednesday morning. Musmarini's corpse was fished out from the Grogol river on Wednesday.
Earlier, the head of the Dramaga Climatology office in Bogor, Widodo, predicted heavy downpours were likely in the western and southern parts of the country in the next few days. Cloudbursts persisted over most parts of Bogor with heavy downpours in Cisarua, Puncak, Cigudeg, Jonggol and Cariu.
In Tangerang, floods inundated at least 3,000 houses.
"About 1,200 houses are located in Ciledug Indah, while around 800 others are located in Wisma Tajur housing complex," Mayor H.M. Thamrin said during an inspection of the effected area on Thursday. Another 1,000 houses were reportedly swamped by water in Pondok Bahar and Puri Kartika.
The housing complexes are located along the Angke river. Locals have repeatedly asked the government to widen the curved river to enable a smooth flow of water, but nothing has been done.
Ciledug's district chief Oman said the river must be widened to avoid flooding. "But we are waiting for the funds to start the project," he said.
The Tangerang mayor visited the compound in a rubber dinghy and donated basic necessities, such as rice, noodles, clean water and medicine to the flood victims. The victims have been provided with temporary shelter in nearby subdistrict and district offices.
Several city residents living along the Pesanggrahan and Krukut rivers in South Jakarta and the Angke river in West Jakarta said on Friday that due to ineffective flood early warning systems, they usually had no time to carry their belongings to safety each time the area was hit by flooding.
"I could only just get my two sons to my mother's house in Sawangan (in South Jakarta) when the floods reached almost one- meter high on Tuesday," said Martini, 37, who lives by the Pesanggrahan river in Bintaro subdistrict.
The mother of three also said that local community leaders never bothered informing them about floods.
"If such a system was in operation here, maybe we could save more of our belongings," said Martini, who, together with other women, was waiting for clothes which were soaked by the flood to dry in the sun.
Her neighbor Ani said that the rains fell so hard in their area, she found it hard to sleep.
The residents' complaints were contrary to statements made by officials at the South Jakarta flood command post, who said they cooperated with all subdistrict heads to provide an early warning system for residents.
"We always alert all subdistrict heads when the Depok flood post informs us of any possible flooding," official Bambang Hernanto told The Jakarta Post. The subdistrict head will then inform all residents. There is a two-hour window before the floods actually hit the area," he added.
Meanwhile, the whole of Kampung Melayu subdistrict in East Jakarta was flooded on Friday morning, with a depth reaching 2.5 meters. However, the flood had subsided to an average depth of 1.3 meters later in the afternoon.
"The flood was caused by heavy rainfall in the Bogor area. Usually this kind of flood subsides rapidly," Marsono, an official at the subdistrict administration, told the Post.
On Thursday, city councilors lambasted the city administration's poor flood prevention program. "The early warning system did not perform well in any of the city's flood prone areas," they said. (ylt/05/ind/41/edt)