Major Flood Hits Jakarta, Thousands Evacuate.

Heavy rains that battered Jakarta two days in a row caused citywide flooding on Tuesday, throwing the capital city into disarray and inhibiting transportation.

Several commuter line trains, Transjakarta buses and Jak Lingko (public minivan) routes serving Greater Jakarta had already been disrupted for two consecutive days. Tuesday's flooding made the disruptions worse.

Commuter Line trains serving the Bekasi to Kota, Bogor to Kota and Bogor/Depok to Angke/Jatinegara routes had to stop at Manggarai Station, while trains serving the Bekasi to Kota route stopped at Pasar Senen Station.

The electricity supply to 20 Transjakarta bus stops was cut on Tuesday morning, disabling electric ticket readers. Twenty-two Transjakarta bus routes and 14 Jak Lingko routes were suspended, while 12 other routes were diverted on Tuesday morning. The majority of Transjakarta bus routes had resumed operation by the afternoon.

“Transjakarta [routes] serving South Jakarta, Central Jakarta, major parts of East Jakarta and routes serving suburban and low-cost apartments have resumed normal operation. At bus stops without electricity, paper tickets are being sold,” Transjakarta corporate secretary Nadia Diposanjoyo said in a written statement released on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.

Anggito Ramadan, a 27-year-old financial officer living in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta, said he arrived late to his office on Jl. Sudirman after his commuter line train stopped at Manggarai Station. The train did not continue the trip to his destination at Sudirman Station as the tracks had been flooded.

“I was supposed to be at the office at 9 a.m., but at 10 a.m., I was still stranded at Manggarai Station and couldn’t find a way to make it to the office,” Anggito told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday morning.

The Soekarno-Hatta International Airport train resumed operation at about noon on Tuesday after suspending its services in the morning.

In response to the flooding, authorities temporarily halted the odd-even traffic policy on Tuesday. Several toll roads were flooded, requiring commuters to take non-toll roads, which contributed to stubborn traffic jams during the morning rush hour.

Students throughout the capital stayed home after the Jakarta Education Agency closed more than 100 of the 375 schools affected by flooding on Tuesday. There are more than 7,900 schools operating in Jakarta.

“Students from schools affected by flooding are allowed to study at home,” agency spokesperson Sonny Sumarsono said.

State-owned electricity firm PLN cut off the power supply to several parts of Greater Jakarta on Tuesday morning due to flooding. PLN president director Zulkifli Zaini said a total of 1,175 electricity substations in Jakarta, Banten and West Java had been switched off for safety reasons as of 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

"When the waters recede and conditions are relatively safe, we will turn on the substations right away," he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

He added that the company was still providing electricity to public facilities such as hospitals and gas stations through power generators.

The Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) recorded that floodwaters on Tuesday had reached a maximum height of 2 meters at Cawang subdistrict in East Jakarta.

The floods forced 3,565 people from 294 community units across the capital to evacuate to 40 locations across five municipalities as of 12 p.m. on Tuesday.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan said the city administration would focus on evacuating the affected residents and on “post-mitigation efforts”.

“We are focusing on post-mitigation efforts, especially as the rainy season will last until March according to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency [BMKG],” he said at the Manggarai sluice gate in Central Jakarta.

He suggested Jakarta residents dial 112 for an emergency hotline or visit nearby subdistrict offices for help or evacuation if their houses were flooded.

Anies said that downpours in the capital had caused the flood, not excessive water from the upstream areas of Bogor and Depok in West Java.

“I did not see much waste on Ciliwung River flowing through the Manggarai sluice gate, meaning that the source of the floodwater was local rainfall,” Anies said.

BMKG recorded rainfall of over 150 millimeters per day for two consecutive days in the capital. Kemayoran district recorded the heaviest daily rainfall at 278 mm on Tuesday. The number was slightly higher than Pulogadung’s, with rainfall of 241 mm per day on Monday.

BMKG recorded Jakarta's highest daily rainfall since 2007 on Dec. 31, 2019, at 377 mm per day. The heavy New Year’s Eve downpour caused major floods across Greater Jakarta, Banten and parts of West Java that claimed 60 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of people for days.

Jakarta Water Resources Agency head Juaini Yusuf said the agency had deployed about 170 mobile pumps operated by approximately 1,000 officers in flood-affected areas to drain the floodwater. He also said agency officers were dredging drainage channels to prevent overflow.

Source: The Jakarta post