Jakarta, March 4 (IANS) Severe flooding hit most areas in Jakarta and its satellite cities on Tuesday after heavy rain poured over the region, leaving thousands of houses submerged and hundreds of residents affected.
Videos taken by residents showed severe flooding with water levels reaching rooftops and submerging entire cars. The floods also caused significant traffic congestion across the cities.
Local media reported that a joint team from the regional disaster management agency, fire department, and search and rescue team was deployed to the affected areas to assist with evacuations and emergency responses.
Head of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency, Dwikorita Karnawati, said the floods had been predicted in several regions across the Southeast Asian country.
“The heavy rain was caused by the detection of atmospheric waves such as the Equatorial Rossby wave and the Kelvin wave, followed by the formation of a low-pressure area and the convergence of several wind patterns from various directions,” she said.
Karnawati added that extreme weather was likely to continue in Jakarta and surrounding cities for the next week.
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) announced that weather modification operations (OMC) would be conducted in the affected areas until Saturday to reduce rainfall intensity and mitigate flooding, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Hopefully, with the implementation of this OMC, we can at least reduce the rain in the coming days,” said BNPB chief, Lt General Suharyanto in a virtual press conference.
Hundreds evacuated from dozens of flooded neighbourhoods around Jakarta on Tuesday as torrential rains pounded the Indonesian capital and its surrounding satellite cities, causing several rivers to overflow.
There were no immediate reports of casualties after the latest deluge, but parts of the city, home to around 11 million people, ground to a halt as whole neighbourhoods were swamped in muddy water.
Water was seen metres high in areas of east and south Jakarta on Tuesday after the rain caused the Ciliwung river to overflow, affecting 1,446 people from 224 houses in one village alone, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) said.
–IANS
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