Residents of Jakarta are advised to stay away from large billboards and trees in the coming days to avoid the risk of being hurt as strong winds are expected to continue across the city over the next three or four days, the meteorology agency has warned.

Soetamto, head of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said Saturday that strong winds, which have been whirling around the city for four days now, would continue in coming days.

“The wind has an average speed of 10 kilometers. Sometimes, it reaches 25 km per hour,” BMKG head Soetamto said.

Wind in the capital usually blows at between 5 km and 10 km per hour.

The strong winds brought down Saturday a 16-by-8-meter billboard on Jl. Asia Afrika in Central Jakarta, causing an hour-long traffic jam; no casualties or injuries were reported.

Officers of the city park agency trimmed trees along Jl. Arteri Pondok Indah, South Jakarta and in Cijantung, East Jakarta. on Saturday.

Soetamto said the strong breeze was triggered by a low pressure system in the waters south of Java and west of Sumatra; a high pressure system has been reported in the South China Sea.

In higher places, 1,000 meters above sea level, stronger winds, of between 40 km and 60 km per hour, have been recorded.

Soetamto, however, assured that the wind would not worsen to the point of becoming a storm with winds of between 50 km and 60 km per hour.

“Heavy winds like these will last for hours, unlike a tornado which lasts only minutes,” he said.

The wind, he said, would create higher waves in the Java Sea and Indian Ocean.

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