Heavy rains on way, people prepare for more flooding
Heavy rains on way, people prepare for more flooding
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Just as residents of Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta finished
cleaning and repairing their water-logged homes and were getting
back to their daily routines, the flood waters have returned.
"The water rose again this morning. But when people went back
to the nearest shelter, the building was closed because they are
preparing for a wedding party to be held there tomorrow.
"Actually the subdistrict office informed us that there would
probably be more flooding about a week ago," said Holisah, 33, a
snack vendor at the Jatinegara traditional market, whose house
was filled with about a meter of water.
Holisah, along with thousands of other residents driven from
their homes by the Jan. 18 flood, had begun returning when the
flood waters receded earlier this week.
On Monday, things seemed to be getting back to normal. The
children went back to school, while their parents, who are mostly
vendors at the nearby market, began working, with only a few
still struggling to put their homes in order again.
"We have cleaned our stuff that we salvaged from the earlier
flood, but now we have to clean it up all over again," complained
Holisah on Friday. "Luckily, I have found a couple of white
shirts for my kids to wear to school, even though they are
wrinkled."
Samlani, 54, the deputy head of Holisah's neighborhood
complained, "I don't know when I'll be able to get back to work
selling fruit. My house is ruined and I don't know when I will be
able to fix it again. Anyway, it is really hard to sell fruit
with the situation like this, with the floods coming again and
again."
According to Yusuf, a staff member of the City Flood and
Disaster Mitigation Task Force, as of Friday morning, heavy rains
in Depok, West Java, had caused the Ciliwung River to overflow
again, with the water level reaching 1.3 meters above street
level in Kampung Melayu subdistrict.
The Jakarta Meteorology and Geophysics Agency predicts that
heavy rains will continue in Greater Jakarta throughout February.
Any rainstorm of long duration and high intensity, with an
average of 100 millimeters per day, could cause flooding at many
different spots in the city.
"People should stay alert to the possibility of flooding,"
said Suroso, a spokesman at the agency. (001)