Jakarta on 10-day flood emergency alert

Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) on Thursday declared a 10-day emergency alert, until January 27, following major floods that almost completely paralyzed daily life in the capital city.

The floods hit almost all parts of Jakarta, creating serious traffic jams, delaying important meetings, stopping the operations of commuter trains, closing busways and causing the evacuation of more than 60,000 residents.

"Based on information from the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), rain intensity will still be high until next week. Therefore, we issued a 10-day emergency alert as an anticipatory step," Jokowi told the press at the City Hall.

The flooding over the past three days was at its worst on Thursday when office and daily activities in Jakarta were almost completely paralyzed. Based on the data collected from the Jakarta Police`s Traffic Management Centre (TMC), the areas inundated by floodwaters include roads in East Jakarta, Central Jakarta and West Jakarta.

One of the main roads affected by the floods in Central Jakarta is Jalan Thamrin, which runs along the office and business district of the city. The floods also affected the National Monument (Monas) square area adjacent to the State Palace.

People employed at offices along the flooded roads found it hard to reach their workplaces. A number of areas within the State Palace complex were also submerged, with flood waters reaching up to a height of 30 cm.

"The President has just inspected a number of areas submerged by the floods around the State Guest House, which is located between the Merdeka Palace and State Palace," Presidential Spokesman Julian A Pasha said.

During his inspection, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono noted that the area between the buildings of the Merdeka Palace and the State Palace was worst affected by the flood.

However, he later said, the flood waters have receded. "The President said he did not mind the palace getting flooded, but he wanted the residents affected by the floods to get assistance as soon as possible," Julian said.

The flooding in the State Palace forced the President to reschedule his meeting with Argentine President Cristina Elisabet Fernandez De Kirchner, which was to be held from 10.30 am to 12 pm.

The floods also forced Vice President Boediono to cancel a Thursday meeting on bureaucratic reforms, scheduled to start at 11.30 am at his now-flooded office in Jalan Medan Merdeka.

"Due to the current situation in Jakarta, the meeting has been cancelled," said Bey Machamudin, a special staff of the vice president.

The meeting was scheduled to be attended by a number of ministers, including Finance Minister Agus Martowardojo, Home Affairs Minister Gamawan Fauzi, Chairman of the President`s Working Unit on Development Supervision and Control, Kuntoro Mangkusubroto, and State Apparatus and Bureaucratic Reform deputy minister Eko Prasodjo.

Meanwhile, Indonesia`s Constitutional Court (MK) postponed two hearings scheduled for Thursday in the wake of the floods. 

"The floodwaters inundated the basement (of the MK building) and cut off the electricity supply, making it impossible to hold the hearings," MK spokesman Akil Mochtar said.

"The Constitutional Court was earlier scheduled to conduct two hearings on Thursday. The first one was on the General Elections law and the second was on Indonesian Criminal Code Procedures (KUHAP)," he explained.

Many office workers were also forced to return home in the morning while on way to their workplaces, as transportation facilities such as trains and buses were hampered by the floods. 

Passenger trains travelling from Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi (Bodetabek) to Jakarta suspended their services at the Manggarai railway station because some sections of railway tracks were flooded.

"The trains were unable to continue their services from the Manggarai station to Jakarta Kota and Tanah Abang in the west because the railway tracks were flooded," said the head of Depok Train Station, Baru Acep Agus.

He noted that certain sections of railway tracks had been flooded, which forced electric trains (KRL) to suspend their services. 

"All the trains had to stop at the Manggarai station from 7am onwards today. At least 14 KRL trains have suspended their services at the Manggarai station," Baru Acep pointed out.

Hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded at the Manggarai station alone. "Every train carries about 700 passengers, and 14 trains have suspended their operations at the Manggarai station," Baru Acep stated. 

Train station officials apologised to the passengers for the inconvenience caused due to the floods.

"Trains from Bogor Station are only able to reach up to Pasar Minggu Station, because Manggarai, Tebet, Kampung Bandan, and Jakarta Kota stations are inundated," Deputy chief of Bogor Railway Station Enjang Budiman said.

Therefore, the railway services in Bogor Station have been suspended. 

"It only provides economy class and commuter line services to and from Pasar Minggu, as it cannot reach Jakarta," Budiman explained. 

The service to Manggarai Station was available until 7.30 am. However, by 8.20 am, the trains could only reach Pasar Minggu station.

Some passengers turned to other means of transport to in order to reach Jakarta.

Meanwhile, the TransJakarta Busway Service halted the operations of its buses in all parts of the city.

"The buses cannot be used for the time being because some lanes are flooded," said Muhammad Akabar, the head of the Public Service Affairs of Transjakarta. 

"All of the 11 corridors to various destinations have been closed for the time being," he stated.

The floods have hit Jakarta since three days ago, but on Thursday the capital city saw the worst impact of the flood. 

According to Jakarta Governor Jokowi, the flooding on Thursday was worse than the one which had hit Jakarta in 2007.

"Based on information from the BMKG, Jakarta will still face heavy rainfall until next week," he said.

The National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said earlier in the day that the water level of Ciliwung River in Manggarai, South Jakarta, had reached a height of 970 cm at 7.30 am on Thursday.

"Evenly distributed downpours in Jakarta and its vicinity have caused the capital city to be besieged by floods. The Ciliwung river has already reaching the level I alert status," BNPB Chief Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said.

"The BMKG reported that weather convergence took place in Jakarta and the western part of Java, causing heavy rainfall in Jakarta," Sutopo said.

"The clouds are still hanging over Jakarta, so the rains are still expected to fall until midday in Jakarta," he added.

Jakarta has been hit by floodwaters over the past three days due to heavy rains in the surrounding mountainous areas of Puncak and Bogor.

There are least 13 rivers flowing from Puncak and Bogor in the south of Jakarta. They criss-cross the capital city before emptying into the sea in the north.

"As of Wednesday night, a total of 60,723 residents have been evacuated to higher grounds since floods swept through a number of areas in Jakarta on Tuesday," the BNPB stated.

Meanwhile Jokowi said: "In 2007, the water level at the Manggarai sluice was recorded only at 1,020 cm, but now it has reached 1,030 by midday on Thursday."(*)

Source: ANTARA