Jakarta Floods Due to Combination of Extreme Rainfall, High Tide

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The city's Water Resources Agency Head, Juaini Yusuf, explained that the Jakarta flood submerging a large number of facilities is due to the combination of high rain intensity and the high tide overwhelming the rivers in the capital city. 

Yusuf said the combination of the two overwhelmed the city’s drainage system that was unable to effectively flow a large amount of water from the capital’s heart to the sea. The water from heavy rain was unable to be redirected to rivers as they were already overflowed due to high tides. 

“It is due to the high tides. Water flowing to [rivers] were obstructed and lagged,” said Yusuf on February 23. 

He also used the opportunity to clarify that the Jakarta water resources agency does not intentionally close flood gates for certain agendas. “The water would overflow from the river to the streets if the flood gates were opened during high-tides,” he said. 

In the rain distribution map composed by the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the high-intensity rainfall happened from East Jakarta up to North Jakarta and affected 25 sub-districts 108 citizen’s communities. According to a tweet by the Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD Jakarta), the floods measured from 30-centimeters up to 220 centimeters in height. 

Furthermore, BPBD Jakarta spokesman Muhammad Insaf said a multi-agency effort is set to handle the victims of the Jakarta flood. As of now, he said 62 people from Central and East Jakarta have taken refuge. 

IMAM HAMDI l LANIDIANA l FRANSISCO ROSARIANS