Friday, 02 February 2007 @ 3:46pm.
Yeah, so it’s raining in Jakarta and it’s raining a lot…a whole lot…non-stop…
A picture from The Jakarta Post:
Caption: FOUR-WHEEL DIVE? A vehicle attempts to navigate a flooded section of Central Jakarta’s Jl. Sabang on Thursday. Heavy rains from Wednesday evening through Thursday afternoon caused flooding in Jakarta due to poor drainage and a lack of flood control facilities. JP/J. Adiguna/The Jakarta Post/02 February 2007.
My boarding house and work office are about a 10-minute walk from Jl. Sabang…It’s definitely no fun at all to roll up your pants and walk through dirty muddy waters having no idea what you’re stepping on or into…
One of today’s CNN (online) headlines: Jakarta: Worst floods in 5 years
“Two days of severe rains caused the worst flooding in five years in the Indonesian capital Friday, washing into thousands of homes and forcing residents to flee, witnesses and officials said. Filthy storm water inundated markets, hospitals and businesses as people used inflatable rafts to retrieve their belongings from houses. Water was four-meters (13-feet) deep in some places in Jakarta, home to some 12 million. With many of the city’s roads inaccessible, commuters spent several hours in gridlock trying to get to work. Many were unable to reach the central business district and returned home. City officials said almost 80 districts where faced with serious flooding with more rain forecast. Electricity was cut to more than 22,000 subscribers in downtown Jakarta and tap water was also shut off in some areas as a safety precaution because of possible pollution. “It has not been this bad since 2002,” when the Presidential Palace in the upscale Menteng area flooded, said Anom Nurcahyo of Jakarta’s Flood Crisis Center said “We cannot say yet if the water will get higher.” Nearly 40 centimeters (more than a foot) of rain fell overnight, submerging inner-city slum areas close to swollen rivers as well as middle-class housing complexes on the city’s outskirts, sending thousands to higher ground or to the second floor of their homes. Passengers were evacuated from a train in central Jakarta after the tracks were submerged. “The water at my house was up to my neck,” said Tina, a housekeeper who uses a single name, who had to leave her home with three young children. In her neighborhood, schools closed and children swam and played in the flooded streets. There were no reports of casualties due to the floods, a yearly occurrence in the city during the peak of the rainy season. A meteorologist forecast continued downpours over the city for the next two weeks. Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands, where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile plains.”
Um, yeah, so I’m trying to stay positive over here…
