Torrential rain leaves parts of city underwater

Torrential rain leaves parts of city underwater

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Hours of torrential rain in the capital on Sunday left some
streets under water and caused heavy traffic congestion.

The rain made for hazardous driving conditions, with
visibility as low as five meters, forcing motorists to drive
slowly with their warning lights on.

Motorcyclists pulled over and sheltered beneath overpasses and
bridges.

Some cars were trapped on flooded roads when their engines
dies, as seen on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Central Jakarta.

Near the Kebon Nanas intersection in East Jakarta, three
public minivans became stuck in water that reached knee level
after their water-soaked engines died.

The rain flooded major streets such as Jl. Asia Afrika in
South Jakarta, Jl. Otto Iskandardinata in East Jakarta, Jl. Ahmad
Yani in East Jakarta, Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta, Jl. Pajang
heading to Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta, and Jl. T.B.
Simatupang in South Jakarta.

Broken traffic lights at some intersections, including Jl.
Pemuda in East Jakarta, worsened the traffic woes.

Heavy traffic also clogged the toll road from Grogol in West
Jakarta to Cawang in East Jakarta.

Experts recently predicted that chronic traffic woes in the
city would worsen during the rainy season, which is expected to
peak in January next year.

Ahmad Syafrudin of the Environmental Task Force said a lack of
roads compared to the number of cars in Jakarta was the principal
cause of traffic congestion. The situation worsens when it rains
as many vehicles pull off to the side of the road, leaving only
one or two lanes for traffic.

"A small number of cars taking diversions to avoid flooded
roads is enough to disrupt traffic across the whole city. It is
like a domino effect," Ahmad said recently.

Jakarta currently has over 4.7 millions vehicles from private
cars and public transportation vehicles to motorcycles. To
accommodate all these vehicles, the city has just 7,500
kilometers of roads.