Heavy storms pound Jakarta, eight perish

Heavy storms pound Jakarta, eight perish

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Heavy rains continued to pound the city Tuesday, causing massive floods, a landslide and severe traffic jams in almost all parts of Jakarta.

As of Tuesday night, the huge floods had caused eight deaths, two missing and almost 10,000 people evacuated from their inundated houses across Greater Jakarta.

A landslide occurred in Pejaten, South Jakarta and killed six.

In Cileduk, also in South Jakarta some 200 families were trapped in their inundated area, where the floodwater had risen to 250 centimeters. And as of Tuesday night they had not yet evacuated. At least two people were reported missing in the area.

The other areas most severely affected by the floods included Cipulir in South Jakarta, where flood waters reached up to 70 centimeters and up to 10 centimeters inside the Cipulir Mall, in Cipinang, East Jakarta.

"The flood here started early Monday morning. On Tuesday morning the water had submerged us. But then the water rose even more and within 30 minutes reached up to 2.5 meters. As a result, many families could not escape the flood and are trapped inside their houses," said Mrs. Muchar, a mother of three in the Cileduk Indah housing complex.

She said that the water current in the area was very strong and that was why two children went missing, presumably swept away.

"We are trapped here and have almost run out of foods and even my two-month-old-baby could no longer drink milk as we ran out of it," said Mrs. Lubis, a mother of three children in the area.

The flood in Cileduk was apparently caused by the overflow of the Angke River. Every year floods in the area hit them. So far, there were no rescue teams in sight.

In Tangerang, about 7,000 houses were inundated by the floods in six districts, with the water level in Jatiuwung and Periuk Jaya up to between three and five meters. Two people were reportedly killed. The first victim, Ferry, 25, a resident of Karang Tengah subdistrict, died in an accident of electrocution on Monday, while Nurmailiani, 11, a resident of Gaga subdistrict drowned in the Sipon river.

Due to the rain, traffic jams also occurred everywhere.

The Bitung tollgate was closed on Tuesday because flooding also inundated a part of the road heading to the tollgate, exactly under the flyover heading to Merak.

Many vehicles broke down in the flood under the flyover, causing a seven-kilometer long traffic jam.

The traffic jams in Jakarta also terribly affect thousands of commuters who were stranded on the street later in the evening as they failed to find any public transportation.

Many motorists were trapped in the traffic congestion for hours as they were stuck one the congested roads.

RI have been here for about two hours, above the Simpruk flyover and the traffic has moved only a few hundreds meters,S a private company employee complained.

Another motorist said that it took him two and a half hours to get home, while usually he only needed no more than 40 minutes.

"I left The Regent in South Jakarta at 9:15 p.m. and arrived home in Bintaro, South of Jakarta at 11:45 p.m. Traffic jams were everywhere. I had to change direction several times in order to avoid the congestionI Thank God, at last I am home," he told The Jakarta Post.

Traffic jams and floods have been the problems of Jakarta for years, but it seems that things become increasingly worse as more development takes place in catchment areas and green belts.

According to an expert, the problem of flooding in the capital city was worsening due to continuing violations of the Jakarta Master Plan, which had resulted in a decrease in the number of catchment areas.

Paulus Agus Winarso of the Geophysical and Meteorological Agency (BMG) told The Jakarta Post here on Monday that the recent downpours in Jakarta actually measured less than 100 millimeters, far lower than the worst-ever level of 400 millimeters recorded in 1996.

Heavy rains caused the flooding that paralyzed the capital in late January 1996 in the city itself and the adjacent areas of Bogor, Sukabumi and Depok.

"Floods in Jakarta have become a serious problem since the 1990s as its development activities have not been in line with its master plan," Paulus said.

Due to violations of the plan, catchment areas have been decreasing, as they have been converted for other uses. He also cited the transformation of dozens of greenbelts into fuel stations and other business uses.