Residents return to flood shelters
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Refugees who went home on Saturday were back in temporary shelters on Sunday as their houses were again flooded after authorities closed the flood gates to the Ciliwung River that passes through the Presidential Palace.
In Balismester and Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, waters reached 150 centimeters and 10 centimeters respectively, while in Pejaten Timor, South Jakarta, the water reached a depth of 1.75 meters.
"Many residents went home yesterday (Saturday), but they come back here again today because their houses are inundated," said Mulyadi, an official on duty at the Santa Maria School in Kampung Pulo, Kampung Melayu, on Sunday.
Imam Budiono, a duty officer at the City Crisis Center, told The Jakarta Post the sluice gate to the Kota area was closed on Sunday morning.
An officer at the Manggarai sluice confirmed Imam's statement. "The sluice opening had been raised to 40 centimeters since Wednesday, but it was lowered to 20 centimeters on Sunday," he said.
The canal passes through the palace and upmarket Menteng area in Central Jakarta.
Meanwhile, water levels at the Manggarai flood gates continued to rise on Sunday. At 7 p.m. the waters were recorded at 700 centimeters after earlier breaching the 7.1 meter high gate at 4 p.m., reaching a depth of 8.25 meters.
Kusharyanto, an officer on duty at the gate, said the rise was caused by heavy rain in Bogor that morning.
An official at the Katulampa sluice said the weather in Bogor and the surrounding area was now fine.
The latest flooding happened after residents of the Kampung Pulo had returned to clean up their houses, which were earlier submerged by two meters of water on Wednesday and Thursday.
"I was cleaning up my house when the water returned in the morning," said Ahmad, a resident.
Kampung Melayu is the worst flood-affected area. Subdistrict head Lutfi Kamal estimated more than 10,000 people were evacuated on Wednesday and Thursday and about 1,200 had yet to return to their homes on Sunday.
Refugees were given shelter in Santa Maria school; the local SMP 26 junior high school, the Attawabin and Al-Hikmah mosques and in a large number of tents.
Meanwhile, the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said on Sunday that more heavy rain might affect the city and surrounding areas during the next few days as the rainy season had not yet reached its peak.
BMG public meteorology service chief Achmad Zakir said the expected tropical storms that were likely to cause heavy rain in Jakarta and surrounding areas had not occurred yet.
"Climatologists have estimated that there will be two tropical storms in January. If such storms appear, heavy rains with stronger intensity will deluge the city. Rainfall can continue for up to five consecutive days," he told The Jakarta Post.
The heavy rain that occurred on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in Jakarta and its upper reaches -- Bogor, Puncak, and Depok -- were not caused by tropical storms. Those rains were just the start of the rainy season, he said.
The rain caused three meter deep flooding in several parts of the city. The annual floods regularly forces tens of thousands of residents, mostly in East Jakarta, to abandon their homes.
BMG has five classifications for cumulative monthly rainfall -- very light for rainfall measuring 10 mm to 15 mm; light for 70 mm to 85 mm; medium, 250 mm to 295 mm; heavy, 400 mm to 545 mm; and very heavy, 510 mm to 845 mm.
During the floods in early 2002, which inundated nearly one- third of Jakarta's 660 square kilometers, the monthly rainfall averaged 800 mm.