Wild storm rips through Jakarta

Wild storm rips through Jakarta

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After days of heat, a violet storm lashed Jakarta on Friday,
flooding streets and uprooting trees, causing massive traffic
jams throughout the city and disrupting rail service.

The storm toppled nearly 200 trees in the capital, 150 of them
in South Jakarta. Trees fell on houses in Kebayoran Baru,
including the house of the late Yoga Sugama, former chief of the
National Intelligence Agency. The family estimated that falling
trees caused Rp 200 million (US$23,810) in damage to their house
and a Mercedes-Benz E320.

A large tree toppled onto a public bus traveling between Lebak
Bulus in South Jakarta and Pulogadung in East Jakarta as it
passed along Jl. Radio Dalam. No injuries were reported in the
accident.

Jakarta Park Agency head Sarwo Handhayani said the agency
would likely offer compensation for the damage caused by the
toppled trees. She also said the agency would plant new trees as
soon as possible to replace those destroyed in the storm.

Toppled trees in Kebayoran Baru and Pondok Indah caused
massive traffic jams in the two areas and on the surrounding
streets. As late as 9 p.m., traffic was still backed up in
Kebayoran Baru, Pondok Indah, Slipi, Kebon Jeruk, Senayan, Karet
and Kebayoran Lama.

Residents trying to make their way around the city today told
of being stuck in traffic for hours. To get from Kuningan to
Slipi took three and a half hours, while traveling from Pondok
Indah to Bendungan Hilir required five hours.

Four sections of railroad -- Tanah Abang-Karet, Tanah Abang-
Palmerah, Kebayoran Lama-Pondok Ranji and Manggarai-Tanah Abang
-- were blocked by falling trees, preventing 10 electric commuter
trains from operating between 2:30 p.m. and 4:05 p.m.

Train operator PT KAI Jakarta's operational area spokesman,
Zainal Abidin, said only the Manggarai-Tanah Abang route had
difficulty resuming operation.

"We moved the tree from the tracks but the train could not
move because of a short circuit in the electrical system," he
said.

A halt in the electricity supply also interrupted electric
commuter trains traveling from Tanah Abang to Serpong, Tangerang,
for several hours.

Besides the heavy rain, a 10-minute hail storm also pounded
down on parts of the capital, including Senayan and Bintaro. The
last time Jakarta experienced hail was in 1993 in Klender, East
Jakarta.

Rosdiani, a resident of Bintaro, told The Jakarta Post that
she was shocked to see marble-sized hail hitting her roof.

Another Bintaro resident, Dewi, said she ran out of her house
to see if the hail was causing any damage.

The head of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency's forecast
division, Ahmad Zakir, said it was the heaviest downpour in the
city since early 2002, when Jakarta was paralyzed by flooding.

"We earlier forecast that there would be 26 consecutive days
of rain this month ...," he said.

The BMG monitored Friday's storm, which dumped 120 millimeters
of rain per hour on the city, and said it was caused by tropical
storm Linda.

Zakir warned Jakartans that even heavier storms were expected
to hit the city next month.