Floods & Landslides: Jakarta & Bogor Plagued by Torrential Rains
Parts of Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta as well as parts of several satellite cities around the capital are plagued by floods, resulting in thousands of evacuees. Anies Baswedan, Governor of Jakarta, said approximately 6,500 people have been displaced by floods in parts of South and East Jakarta, such as Rawajati and Kampung Melayu.
Yesterday (05/02), Indonesia's National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) issued a flood warning for Jakarta because the Katulampa Dam in Bogor, located some 40 kilometers to the south of Jakarta, was likely to overflow. The flood alert remains at the highest level for the capital where more than ten million people live, while more than 30 million people are estimated to live in the Greater Jakarta Region (which includes the satellite cities).
Torrential rains traditionally cause floods at some point in the December-February period. Key factor is heavy rainfall upstream in the Bogor area. Local authorities had to release water from a reservoir in Bogor as water levels prompted the highest alert. Due to the increase in water flows, rivers (downstream) in and around Jakarta started to flood. Clogged rivers (as Indonesians throw lots of waste in the rivers) exacerbate the issue.
These torrential rains also caused landslides in and around Bogor. Sutopo Nugroho, spokesman of BNPB, said several people were killed on Monday due to landslides. Meanwhile, landslides obstructed rail tracks on the Bogor-Sukabumi route in West Java, while heavy rains reportedly destroyed a rail bridge near Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, located just outside Jakarta. The airport train service has therefore been suspended, temporarily.
