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JAKARTA. Heavy rains that hit Jakarta and its upper areas, like Depok, Bogor and Tangerang, have caused flooding in many places across the capital city on Thursday, expelling hundreds of people from their houses and cutting road access in a number of places.
According to the Jakarta city Disaster Management Agency’s monitoring center, residents in 13 districts, 20 subdistricts, 48 community units and 90 neighborhood units were affected by flooding.
As an example, flooding had woken up residents of Gedong subdistrict, Pasar Rebo, East Jakarta as rainwater entered their houses early Thursday.
Febian, one of the residents, said it was the worst flooding he'd seen for five years. “The heavy rain hit the area at about 4 a.m. The water entered my house a half hour after. All my furniture was inundated. It was the worst in the last five years,” said Febian as reported by tribunnews.com on Thursday.
The flooding also inundated junior high school SMP 257 on Jl. Kelurhan Rambutan Ciracas and Jl. Raya Centex Ciracas with water levels of between 20 and 40 centimeters.
Other places in East Jakarta affected by the flooding were Makasar, Kramajati and Jatinegara districts. The worst area was Cipinang Melayu in Makasar district where water levels reached 180 centimeters high.
Meanwhile, in South Jakarta, floods with water levels of between 30 and 100 centimeters hit Jagakarsa, Pasar Minggu, Pancoran and Tebet districts.
A resident reported to @TMCPoldaMetro, a Jakarta Police Twitter account, that Jl. Kemang Utara IX was inundated and the vehicles had to find alternate roads. The flooding in Kemang Timur had also inundated elementary school SDN Bangka 03 and the Pondok Karya Tendean housing complex.
In West Jakarta, the floods affected the Rawa Buaya subdistrict in the Cengkareng district.
In Central Jakarta, Jl. Gunung Sahari and Jl. Bungur Raya were also inundated. Floods also hit the Gambir subdistrict.
In response to the Thursday’s flooding, Jakarta Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama said he would continue to evict some illegal residents to allow his administration to continue its flood mitigation projects.
He said the flooding was caused by some buildings around the Krukut and Pessanggrahan rivers in South Jakarta that have blocked the waterways. “Originally, the Pesanggrahan River’s width was about 60 meters, but now it is only between 5 and 15 meters. I should widen the river and move people who live around the river,” Ahok said at City Hall on Thursday.
But the evictions will be conducted after the number of low-cost apartment towers are finished being built, said Ahok, adding that in May hundreds of apartments would be ready to be occupied. (Callistasia Anggun Wijaya)
