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.