Rain delivers respite, but not wet season yet
Rain delivers respite, but not wet season yet
Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
The light rain that fell across several areas in Jakarta the past
week marks only the transition from the dry to wet season, says
an official of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG).
"Rain of low intensity occurred sporadically and lasted less
than 30 minutes," Achmad Zakir of BMG's forecast division said on
Friday.
Rain usually starts in the southern part of the capital,
followed by the western, eastern, central and finally the
northern areas, he explained.
"Right now, it is falling only in South Jakarta and sometimes
in West Jakarta," he said.
Strong winds are expected during this transitional period and
the first month of the rainy season, which is forecast to begin
in early or mid-November.
Monthly rainfall during the wet season this year would not
exceed the average, said Zakir. However, as flooding is related
to the intensity of daily precipitation, the possibility of
flooding still looms.
"People should clean up their neighborhoods and dredging needs
to be conducted thoroughly," he said.
It takes only 75 mm of rain a day over three consecutive days
to cause flooding in the capital.
The Jakarta administration has announced it would hold natural
disaster mitigation drills in the second week of October to
anticipate the recurrence of heavy floods and to increase public
awareness.
Two years ago, the capital witnessed the worst floods in
recent history, and as many as 168 of its 262 subdistricts were
swamped. The calamity claimed at least 31 lives, forced more than
300,000 residents to abandon their homes and paralyzed
transportation for days.
The administration is counting on the planned East Flood
Canal, which will link to the existing West Flood canal, to ease
annual flooding. However, it has stumbled upon an unforeseen
obstacle as people refused to sell their land to make way for the
canal.
As of last year, the East Jakarta administration had acquired
only 62 hectares of the 183 hectares it must procure for the
project, while North Jakarta had acquired only 5.2 hectares of
its 78.5-hectare obligation.
Meanwhile, the Tangerang administration has set aside Rp 6
billion (US$654,664) in anticipation of this year's floods,
Antara reported.
The fund is allocated for dredging mud from the Cisadane River
and to construct levees, said Tangerang Mayor Wahidin Halim. The
administration will also dredge the garbage in Sipon River, which
flows across the municipality.
Tangerang has 47 flood-prone areas that are inundated annually
by 50 cm to 120 cm of water. Like Jakarta, the municipality often
receives excess water that flows down from Bogor, which is home
to the source of the Cisadane.