Rains cut traffic lights, ups jams

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Heavy downpour over most part of the capital since Sunday night swamped several traffic light control boxes, worsening traffic congestion during peak hours on Monday morning.

Officers in charge of the main control panel room at City Hall confirmed that many traffic lights were not functioning due to the flooding.

"Most of our colleagues are now out of the office to repair the damage," one of the officers told The Jakarta Post.

However, they refused to disclose how many traffic lights were in affected and how severe the damage was.

Pristono, head of the road infrastructure division with the Jakarta Transportation Agency, could not be reached for confirmation.

Traffic light blackouts were seen on Jl. MT Haryono in Cawang, East Jakarta, Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta, Jl. Panjang in West Jakarta, and Jl. Basuki Rachmat and Jl. Otto Iskandardinata in East Jakarta.

A traffic accident involving a trailer truck and a minibus occurred in front of Kartika Chandra Hotel on Cawang toll road heading to Grogol, West Jakarta. The accident caused a long lineup of up to seven kilometers, but no fatalities were reported.

The Post observed in the afternoon that most of the traffic lights had returned normal.

The Meteorology and Geophysics Agency predicts the rainy days will linger up to mid March.