Strong winds to hit parts of the capital

JAKARTA (JP): An officer of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) warned Jakartans on Monday about the strong winds to be followed by heavy rain that might hit certain parts of the capital.

Head of BMG's public relations division Waantarmin said that the strong winds resulted from a tropical depression in the southern part of the Nusa Tenggara region, which would lead the cloud over the Java Sea to move to the east (is this west?), including Jakarta.

"But it won't be too dangerous as the speed of the wind will be about 25 knots per hour at the most.

It is also far from storm force -- in which wind speed reaches more than 45 knots -- or a typhoon, which might reach 65 knots," he told The Jakarta Post.

As a comparison, he said, the speed of a "normal" wind was between five and 12 knots per hour.

He said he could not give details of when the winds would occur or the likely most affected areas.

"It seems that the depression won't last long," Waantarmin said.

Several parts of Jakarta already experienced strong winds in the past few days with speeds of some 20 knots per hour, he said.

Last Wednesday, a strong wind slightly damaged at least 145 houses, and toppled an electricity pole and 23 trees at Kalibaru and Cilincing subdistricts in North Jakarta. (ind)