Streets, hundreds of houses inundated after heavy rains

JAKARTA (JP): Some parts of the city's streets were inundated on Sunday after heavy rainfall that began Saturday.

The affected streets included Jl. D.I. Pandjaitan, Jl. Pahlawan Revolusi and Jl. Pemuda in East Jakarta, where a number of cars were trapped.

The rain, which started to fall again at about 9 a.m. on Sunday, also inundated parts of Jl. Pejompongan, Jl. Kramat Raya, and Jl. Blora in Central Jakarta and Jl. Supomo in South Jakarta.

"Although it is still raining, however, the floods have receded in the area," an officer at the North Jakarta Flood Control Agency told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

The officer, Dedi, said the floodwater engulfed hundreds of houses in slum areas in Pejagalan subdistrict near the Pantai Indah Kapuk luxury housing complex on Saturday.

He said the water started to overflow into those areas at about 1 p.m., reaching a depth of about 80 centimeters but it began to recede during the night.

No evacuation was conducted during the flooding, he said.

Local residents saved their belongings, such as electronic goods, by taking them up to the second floor of their houses or took shelter in their neighbors' houses.

He admitted the above-mentioned areas have been notorious for flooding for years, especially after the construction of the housing complex.

Local residents have often complained that the flood was caused by the reclamation work on several swamps conducted by the developer of the housing complex at the beginning of the 1990s, he said.

"But I'm not sure whether the flooding was caused mainly by the reclamation works. We should study this," he added.

Hundreds of houses along the Mampang riverbank in Bangka subdistrict, South Jakarta, were also inundated with the water level reaching 50 centimeters following the rainfall on Saturday.

But the flood soon receded and no evacuation was effected, an officer, Mali, at the South Jakarta Flood Control Agency said on Sunday.

He said the flooding was caused by an overflow of the Mampang River.

On Jan. 14, the river also overflowed and inundated hundreds of houses in the area. At least nine subdistricts in South Jakarta reportedly were engulfed by floodwaters.

Data at the Bendung Katulaba Flood Control Agency in Bogor showed that the water level reached 40 centimeters on Saturday, meaning that it was still far below the red alert level of 170 centimeters.

Ismoyo, an officer of the agency, said that if the water level at the agency showed 180 centimeters, flood-prone areas such as Pejaten Timur and Rawa Jati in South Jakarta, Cililitan, Cawang, Kebon Baru and Bidara Cina in East Jakarta, Tanah Abang and Jati Pulo in Central Jakarta would be engulfed. (jun)