W

eather anomalies are playing havoc on the economic activity of city residents, especially those who spend most of their working hours on the roads.

From ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers who have seen the number of customers dwindle, salespeople who are forced to waste precious working hours, to fallen trees that threaten lives of commuters during wind and rain are some of the real impacts of extreme weather for Jakarta residents.

Koswara, an ojek driver, told The Jakarta Post that he earned less because the number of his customers decreased by half whenever it rained as many said they preferred using taxis or other forms of public transportation.

“I usually have between five and six customers on a clear day, but less than three when it rains,” he said. With the advent of the rainy season this month, he added that his income would probably drop even more.

Suwanto Iryadi, a salesman for a company in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, complained that the weather could change abruptly from a bright, clear day to heavy rains within minutes. He said he also often experienced clear days with rain at the same time.

“Such conditions are very frustrating especially for those who spend most of their working hours on the roads. I am sometimes forced to meet clients while wearing wet shoes,” he said, taking shelter under a pedestrian bridge on Jl. Sudirman in Central Jakarta.

Although he now always carries with him a pair of sandals, he claimed his shoes were often wet before he had the chance to change out of them as the rain usually fell suddenly.

“I try to find shelter when it rains moderately or heavily because the wind is usually really strong. I’m afraid of being hit by a falling tree,” he said.

The Jakarta Parks Agency said that since the start of this year, 50 trees had fallen due to extreme weather. This month, the agency added, 16 trees were downed by the weather. Most of the trees that fell were located on Jl. I Gusti Ngurah Rai, Jl. Bekasi Timur, Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan, Jl. Basuki Rahmat, Jl. Kol. Soegiyono in East Jakarta, Jl. DI Panjaitan in Central Jakarta and Jl. Raya Bogor in South Jakarta.

During the wet season, the Jakarta Public Works Agency warns residents about the increase in the number of potholes in the city, which lurk under the myriad puddles that appear.

“Water can destroy asphalt structures and does create holes in the road. During the wet season, we are only able to cover up such holes with temporary structures,” the agency’s head of road management, Budi Mulyanto, told the Post.

He added that lately his agency was not able to construct more permanent solutions as rain fell in the city almost each month, with the problem being compounded by drainage problems, creating puddles that lingered longer in some spots.

The city police’s Traffic Management Center (TMC) claimed 97 areas in Greater Jakarta were prone to being flooded by puddles.

Rika Eliana, who makes the daily trip from her house in Pondok Indah to her office in Kuningan in South Jakarta, said that the potholes took a toll on her car, which was small and had a low chassis.

“The potholes fill with water whenever it rains. I can’t see them so I must drive very carefully and try to memorize where they are,” she said.

The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) blamed rapid development in the city and overpopulation on the weather anomalies.

“Tall buildings with glass windows reflect a lot of sunlight. Such conditions lead to an increase in the temperature of surrounding areas, leading to climate change,” Hari Tirto, the agency’s head of meteorology, said, adding that the temperature in the city was increasing by 0.17 degrees Celsius each year for the last 25 years.

Earlier this month, thousands of dead fish washed ashore along the Marina and Karnaval beaches close to the Ancol amusement park on Jakarta Bay, an incident widely blamed on weather anomalies.

“We are still investigating the exact cause of the problem, but our preliminary finding suggests that they died due to a lack of oxygen,” Jakarta Environmental Management Agency head of law enforcement Ridwan Pandjaitan told the Post.

He said weather that rapidly fluctuated between warm and cold helped phytoplankton grow rapidly, causing fish to compete with the microorganisms for oxygen “and the fish usually lose out”. (rch)