Floods hit parts of Jakarta, Cipulir worst-hit area

Muninggar Sri Saraswati and Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The rain that fell for several hours on Sunday night resulted in the Pesangrahan river overflowing its banks, causing floods in some areas of South Jakarta in the morning.

One of the worst affected areas was Cipulir, where the floodwaters reached up to one meter in depth.

Part of Jl. Ciledug Raya, particularly near Cipulir Plaza and Cipulir market, was temporarily closed due to the flooding.

Residents complained that their homes were deluged due to the poor condition of drainage channels following the major floods that hit the city in January and February.

One of them, Rukyana, said that the area was always inundated even if it only rained for a short time.

"The area is now easily inundated as most of the drains here were damaged during the big flood (in February)," he complained.

His neighbor, Mrs. Kalalo, added that after the recent floods, the Pesanggrahan river was full of garbage. "No wonder it overflows its banks after the rain."

According to her, some residents had reported the problem to the local sanitation agency but to no avail.

The latest flooding caused severe traffic jams in the area.

Most people who had to pass along Jl. Ciledug Raya failed to get to work on time due to the congestion.

"I managed to get to my office on Jl. Sudirman at 10 a.m, two hours late," said Shinta, saying that she left her home in the Larangan area at 6.30 a.m.

The Pesanggrahan river also overflowed onto Jl. Deplu Raya in Pondok Pinang, South Jakarta, forcing motorists to crawl along slowly for a couple of kilometers.

The flooding was unexpected as the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) had earlier announced that the dry season would begin in Jakarta between March and August, or two months earlier than usual. BMG chief Paulus A. Winarno had warned of a possible prolonged dry season due to the El Nino effect.

Bidawi Hasyim of the National Aeronautics and Space Agency (Lapan) said that Monday's rain was not extraordinary since "now it is in a transitional period."

He said the rain in Jakarta and other regions of the western part of Java island, such as Banten and West Java, was caused by a tropical storm over the west and south of Sumatra.

"Because of the storm, the clouds were drawn to the east, and therefore rain fell at Jakarta on Monday," Bidawi told The Jakarta Post by phone.

Separately, Jakarta Public Works Agency head IGKG Suena claimed that the Pesanggrahan river, and other two rivers which also overflew on Monday, the Cipinang and Sunter, had not been included in the city's post-flood drainage program.

"The rivers' drainage should be handled by the central government," Suena told the Post on Monday.

He said the Pesanggrahan river, which was currently between three and five meters wide, was expected to be widened to 25 meters.

Without mentioning the cost, he said the central government was expected to finance the land acquisition for the drainage project.

The city budget has allocated about Rp 265 billion for the post-flood program, including the rehabilitation of the roads and educational facilities that were damaged during the floods earlier this month.