Heavy rain to come through January

JAKARTA (JP): Heavy seasonal rains will continue to affect most areas of Indonesia except for Java where only light sporadic rain will fall from overcast skies, an official said.

Chief of Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) Sri Diharto revealed that the recent torrential rains affecting parts of Indonesia were associated with tropical storms to the north and south of Indonesia.

"But the storms have moved away. The south storm moved to New Zealand and vanished, while the North is moving toward India," he said.

"That's why it's cloudy in Java with only occasional rain. But in Central and Eastern parts of Indonesia, like Kalimantan, Sulawesi and also Sumatra, rainfall levels remain high and even above normal," Sri told the press briefing held at the State Minister of Environment Office.

Sri asserted that if the storms return and hit Australia, which he said is possible, it would cause rainfall in Java.

To keep up with the latest weather development, Sri said BMG would provide the information on its website within two days.

"Two days from now, we will provide satellite images which will be updated every hour on our website www.bmg.go.id. Also provided will be information about areas where rain is forecast," he added.

Sri advised that BMG would also hand out the transportation route for the upcoming holidays.

On the prospect of calamitous weather, Sri said that based on the prediction of eight international institutions, up until November 2001, no abnormalities are expected.

"It means that we won't suffer from a long dry season. But there are some regions predicted to have rainfall levels below normal," he said.

The regions are the north coast of West Java and Central Java; Pati and Rembang in Central Java; Lamongan, Gresik, Tuban, and Madura in East Java; the east coast of Sumatra, southeast Aceh; west Aceh; the north side of South Kalimantan; the east part of Central Kalimantan; South Sulawesi coast; the north side of Southeast Maluku and South Maluku.

Sonny also disclosed that some regions remained susceptible to flooding until the end of the month.

The regions include Aceh, East Kalimantan, the south coast of Sumatra, Southeast Sulawesi, and West Kalimantan.

"Besides weather, deforestation, river sedimentation, and exploitation of natural resources also contribute to flooding," Sonny said. (hdn)