TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta's Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) suspects that the unusually high tide that damaged the levees at Pantai Mutiara Estate is caused by the full moon. "The full moon has affected the tide's ebb and flow in the past week or so," said the acting Head of Jakarta's BPBD, Denny Wahyu, at Pantai Mutiara on Saturday, June 4, 2016.
Denny said that although the tide ebbs and flows every day, the tide that occurred last week was much higher than usual. At its' peak, on Friday, June 3, 2016, the high tide reached 245 centimetres, as recorded at Muara Angke's Fish Market observation post - causing sea water to flood the Estate, with depths averaging between 100-190 centimetres. As a result, hundreds of homes were flooded, and scores of cars were damaged due to the inundation.
"The full moon tide comes between the 1st and 15th day of every month - and during the full moon tide, the tides can be especially high, before receding at low tide every morning," explained Denny.
According to Tempo's observation, the high tide has begun to surface of the water to rise to 145 centimetres at Muara Angke's Fish Market observation post. Currently, an excavator and 10 dump trucks filled with soil are racing with time to temporarily patch the damaged levees before the full moon, high tide comes into play and causing further floods.
The managers of Pantai Mutiara Estate have also deployed at least five dump trucks filled with bags of soil to reinforce the damaged levees.
Efforts to temporarily patch the damage is still ongoing - with the aid of DKI Jakarta's BPBD, the Indonesian Army (TNI), Police, Jakarta's Water Management Agency, as well as Jakarta's Public Order Officers (Satpol PP).
AVIT HIDAYAT
