Flood triggers gridlock

Flood triggers gridlock

SEMARANG, Central Java: Widespread flooding just west of here
stopped traffic on the Semarang-Jakarta highway for six hours
yesterday, forming an eight-kilometer queue of immobile vehicles.

In the Mangkang area, the water level on the road was as high
as 70 centimeters, causing gridlock on an eight kilometer road
between Semarang and Kendal, Antara reported.

The traffic jam lasted from 5 p.m. Thursday until 12.30 a.m.
yesterday. Thousands of vehicles of all kinds moved at a snail's
pace.

"I have been stuck here practically immobile for two hours," a
truck driver, Suwondo, said.

The flooding also forced more than a dozen families in
Mangkang to move to safer ground, Antara reported. (pan)