0 Jakarta Streets Still Inundated as of Thursday Evening

Many parts of Jakarta were still inundated as of Thursday evening, as continuous rains pelted the capital and added further to the torrential flooding that has caused at least nine deaths so far. Jakarta Police reported on Thursday evening that a number of roads in Kelapa Gading and Mangga Dua in North Jakarta, Cakung, Pulogadung and Jatinegara in East Jakarta and Kebon Jeruk and Cengkareng in West Jakarta were among those still inundated by waters up to 1 meter high. 

The Hotel Indonesia traffic circle remained deluged, as did Senen and Cempaka Putih in Central Jakarta and Pejagalan in South Jakarta. Jakarta’s Public Works Agency Chief Ery Basworo said floodwaters were expected to keep inundating Jalan Sudirman and Jalan MH Thamrin in Central Jakarta until the 30-meter-long section of the West Flood Canal dike that collapsed on Thursday was repaired. Jakarta Police’s traffic unit warned road users of holes in some flooded roads through its Twitter account @TMCPoldaMetro. 

“Some areas in greater Jakarta were again hit by rain. Be careful, road users,” @TMCPoldaMetro tweeted at 8:33 p.m. Meanwhile, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said floods affected 50 urban wards in 25 subdistricts across Jakarta, inundating over 25,000 houses that were hosting more than 94,000 people. Furthermore, 15,000 people were displaced from their homes. The BNPB noted that there were at least nine casualties caused by the floods across Jakarta since Tuesday. 

BNPB spokesman Sutopo Purwo said the figures may increase. The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said earlier in the day that the heavy monsoonal rains that caused the flooding were predicted to get worse over the next few days. “For the next two or three days, it is estimated that there may be increasing activity of the Asian Monsoon, which could increase weather activity in southern Sumatra and Java,” BMKG official Soepriyo said.

source : the jakarta globe