South Jakarta floods the worst in ten years

South Jakarta floods the worst in ten years

JAKARTA (JP): Monday's flooding in the Pesanggrahan district was called the worst in 10 years, backing up traffic in Cipulir and Bintaro, South Jakarta.

The area, especially the Bintaro subdistrict, is familiar with floods, but this November's floods have been the heaviest since 1985, said Chairuddin C.S., chief of the subdistrict. He cited the IKPN and the foreign ministry housing complexes as the worst hit.

In the Pesanggrahan district, the Ulujami, Bintaro and Pesanggrahan subdistricts were practically submerged on Monday by the Pesanggrahan river, which could not contain the rainwater from West Java streams.

Many subdistrict heads in South Jakarta acknowledged that the recent flooding was unusually severe.

Chairuddin said the IKPN housing complex was inundated by three meters of water. Until yesterday afternoon the area was still submerged.

He said that previous flood waters reached only two meters and only lasted for one day.

Chairuddin said that in his subdistrict a total of six community units were inundated and a total of 523 families had been evacuated.

In Ulujami subdistrict a total of 261 families were also evacuated from their homes because of the flooding. Up to yesterday afternoon the water level was still at 80-cm, down from 110 cm on Monday.

"This is the worst flood we have experienced. We are now building a higher embankment along the Pesanggrahan river," said Junaidi, a staff of Ulujami subdistrict office.

Dachlan, from the Pesanggrahan subdistrict, said a total of 63 houses were submerged on Monday. "This was unusual because no houses were ever submerged in the past," he said. No one in the family was evacuated because they prefer to stay with their house, he added.

The Ciliwung-Cisadane Normalization Project has recommended that the IKPN housing complex erect a dike to protect it from the annual floods.

It suggested that the city administration build a 10-meter- long dike along the Pesanggrahan river, which runs through the Bintaro, Ciputat and Cileduk, to prevent the river water from spilling into the residential areas. (yns)