Heavy rains predicted, people prepare for more flooding
Heavy rains predicted, 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)