Heavy rains 'en route' to capital

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A storm felled trees on Saturday in several areas of the city, worsening traffic congestion and warning of prolonged rain predicted for next week.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) reiterated warnings, particularly for the residents of flood-prone areas, saying the city would soon see the worst of the rainy season.

"Downpours have been more frequent. Next week, the rainy season will really have started in Jakarta. So we must be on the alert for possible flooding," BMG's chief of public meteorological services Achmad Zakir told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.

Flooding due to the city's poor drainage system and trees uprooted in the storm were the cause of major traffic jams in Palmerah, Pejompongan and on Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta; and in Kebayoran Lama and Pondok Indah in South Jakarta, according to Detik.com news portal.

Zakir said indications of more bad weather in store were downpours in the mornings as well as the evenings and rain reaching up to 50 millimeters a day.

While it has rained harder than usual over the past few days, particularly in the southern part of the city, the BMG has recorded average rainfall of some 30 millimeters per day and says downpours are confined mostly to the evenings .

Zakir was not prepared to comment on the severity of flooding that was expected, saying this was partially dependent on the preparations of the City Public Works Agency, including the maintenance of drainages and the dredging of rivers.

There are 78 flood-prone areas across the city, mostly on the banks of the 13 major rivers, the majority of which originate in Puncak, Bogor, West Java.

The city administration had made it clear on more than one occasion that it cannot prevent the annual floods in the city.

It said flooding would be significantly reduced after the completion of the East Flood Canal, which, together with the existing West Flood Canal, would form a half circle canal, to accommodate runoffs from the 13 rivers.

It was reported last week that a person was killed in a building that collapsed following the flooding of Cililitan Kecil River in East Jakarta.

The heavy rain on Saturday lashed almost all areas of five municipalities.

Rusli, an officer on duty at the Jakarta Crisis Center, said the heaviest downpours on Saturday occurred in Central Jakarta, South Jakarta and West Jakarta. Meanwhile, there was sporadic rainfall in North and East Jakarta.

Rusli, however, said the water level at all flood gates had not increased significantly on Saturday, perhaps because there was no rain in higher areas like Depok and Bogor.