Jakarta East City Government Hauls Away 25 Tonnes of Flood Debris in Kramat Jati

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Jakarta East City Government (Pemkot Jaktim), together with the Kramat Jati Environmental Implementation Unit, has hauled away 25 tonnes of flood debris in Kramat Jati since last week. “A total of 25 tonnes of waste from flooding in Kramat Jati subdistrict has been cleared,” said Dwi Firmansyah, Head of the Kramat Jati Subdistrict Environmental Implementation Unit, in Jakarta on Friday. He noted that the cleanup began on Monday (23/3) and was completed on target today. The waste resulted from overflows of the Kali Baru and Kali Induk rivers, which occurred from Saturday (21/3) night until Sunday (22/3) morning. Dwi detailed that from the two affected locations, namely Tengah and Batu Ampar kelurahans, the largest volume came from Tengah at 21 tonnes, while Batu Ampar had four tonnes. Regarding transportation, he said they deployed eight vehicles consisting of three large tipper trucks, three small tipper trucks, one Hilux unit, and one pickup truck from the Waste Handling Unit (UPS) of the Water Body Agency. “Fifteen Environmental Task Force personnel were also mobilised, assisted by PPSU (Public Infrastructure and Facilities Handling) officers and UPS Water Body Agency Task Force,” Dwi stated. “Some points had to be handled manually because vehicles could not access them. The waste was first carried to locations accessible by transport vehicles,” Dwi explained. Meanwhile, Tengah Kelurahan Head Budi Hartati appreciated the cross-Organisational Device (OPD) collaboration in handling post-flood waste in her area. “Thank you to the Environmental team, UPS Water Body Agency, PPSU officers, and residents who helped,” Budi said. She mentioned that to support the accelerated cleanup process, 30 PPSU officers were deployed, focused on several affected points, including RT 01, 02, 03, 09, and 10 in RW 01, as well as RT 04 in RW 08. “I hope this waste cleanup can be completed soon and that flooding does not recur in the future,” Budi hoped. High-intensity rain that hit the Jakarta area since that afternoon caused overflows from the Ciliwung River, submerging several residential areas and roads in Balekambang, Kramat Jati, East Jakarta. Water began entering homes around 4:00 p.m. WIB. Within three hours, the water level rose rapidly to more than one metre. Water levels in the area varied from 30 centimetres to one metre. Residents whose homes were in higher spots began cleaning up the mud residue carried by the flood. The cleaning activities were carried out communally to speed up environmental recovery. Not only residential areas, but flooding also occurred on Jalan Raya Bogor, specifically at the Hek intersection in Kramat Jati. The water level on that road reached about 50 centimetres. This caused long traffic jams from Cililitan towards Pasar Rebo, and vice versa. Several vehicles had to slow down, and some drivers chose alternative routes to avoid the flooding.