October 7, 2022
JAKARTA – Greater Jakarta braces for more flooding after heavy downpours swept through many neighborhoods, causing massive floods and severing major thoroughfares in the past few days.
Heavy rains and flooding also hit other parts of the country, with more rain forecast across the archipelago for the rest of the week.
In several areas of the capital, Tuesday’s heavy downpour, which began in the afternoon, led to water inundating at least six major roads and 80 neighborhood units (RT) in the capital with some areas remaining flooded until Wednesday morning.
The six major roads included Jl. Pangeran Antasari and Jl. Lenteng Agung in South Jakarta, as well as Jl. Jenderal Gatot Subroto – one of the capital’s main roads that stretches between South and Central Jakarta.
Meanwhile, 60 of the 80 RT flooded on Tuesday were located in South Jakarta, with some neighborhoods suffering as much as 170 centimeters of water. Footage circulating on social media showed severe flooding in the Ciledug and Fatmawati areas, both located in South Jakarta.
In South Jakarta’s Kemang and Mampang Prapatan areas, heavy flooding forced authorities to mobilize hundreds of disaster mitigation agency workers, along with fire trucks and heavy-duty pumping equipment.
The head of the Jakarta Disaster Agency’s Data and Information Center, Michael, said nine neighborhood units were still flooded as of Wednesday morning.
“[The number of flooded neighborhoods] in West Jakarta went down from four units to two, from 10 units to four in East Jakarta and [there are] only three left in Central Jakarta,” Michael said, as quoted by Kompas.
Flooded regions
On the outskirts of Jakarta in South Tangerang, massive rainfall also caused severe flooding in at least six subdistricts in the regency and the forced closure of the Jakarta-Tangerang toll road from 6 p.m. until 9.30 p.m., following 50 centimeters of flood water.
According to the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), at least 1,252 homes in the six subdistricts were flooded. The South Tangerang Disaster Agency also reported landslides in at least three neighborhoods. No casualties were reported in the incidents.
Outside of the capital, a number of cities and regencies in West Java, including Bandung, West Bandung and Cimahi, also experienced flooding.
Meanwhile, in Sintang Regency, West Kalimantan, heavy rainfall since Sunday caused the Serawai River to overflow, forcing over 5,000 residents from six flooded villages to evacuate as of Tuesday night, the BNPB said.
The flooding, which ranged from 1.5 to 2 meters in depth, submerged over 1,000 houses, seven schools and 15 public facilities.
Similarly, 580 households in two subdistricts of North Aceh regency were also flooded on Tuesday, displacing over 1,800 residents. Around 230 hectares of rice fields were submerged in the regency, putting it at risk of crop failure.
Storm brewing
In an online statement on Wednesday, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) raised the alert status of five provinces from level 1 to level 2 – waspada (advisory) – in anticipation of more hydrometeorological disasters, including floods and flash floods, until at least Friday.
These provinces are Jakarta, West Java and Banten on Java, as well as Aceh and West Kalimantan.
Separately, the BMKG announced that 10 provinces in Sumatra, all six provinces in Java as well as all five provinces in Kalimantan, along with a host of other provinces, including Bali, would likely experience thunderstorms at least until Friday.
The BNPB has issued warnings for public caution and alertness. It also urged Indonesians who lived on floodplains or close to rivers, as well as those living on cliffsides, to take precautionary measures and take shelter in safer places in the event of heavy downpours that last for more than one hour.