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BMKG warns of flood in October
The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) is warning that the rainy season is likely to peak in December with highly intensive rainfall that may cause floods
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he Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) is warning that the rainy season is likely to peak in December with highly intensive rainfall that may cause floods.
BMKG deputy director general for climatology, Widada Sulistya said on Friday that Jakarta would enter its rainy season early next month as the peak of the dry season, marked by extremely hot temperature, had just passed by.
'The dry season peaked from Sept. 23 to Sept. 26, with the temperature reaching 33 degrees Celsius. We are now in a transition of hot weather cooling down to lower temperatures,' he said.
He said that due to a monsoon cycle, this year's rainy season would start early in South Jakarta.
'The rainy season will start in early September in South Jakarta, followed by other areas in the city,' he said. 'In early October, the rain will fall evenly throughout the city.'
He said that the rain intensity measured by volume and duration would start to increase in the middle of November.
'Based on cloud movements, El Nino weather, wind directions and warm seawater, we forecast that the rainy season will reach its peak in December and January,' he told The Jakarta Post.
He said that at the peak of the rainy season, the rain intensity would increase significantly in ways that might cause the city to be inundated in floods. 'In December, rain will fall day and night,' he said.
In relations to the flooding possibilities, BMKG director Andi Eka Sakya met with Jakarta Governor Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo at City Hall on Friday to discuss preparations ahead of the rainy season.
'I've made a suggestion that to prevent floods, the city needs to repair its malfunctioning waterways ahead of the rainy season,' Andi said.
He said a lot of waterways in the city were not functioning because they were clogged with trash.
Jokowi was quoted by kompas.com saying that the city administration already took necessary measures. 'For example, we have just begun cleaning the Pluit reservoir in North Jakarta from trash with excavators,' he said.
He added that the Ria-Rio reservoir in Pulomas, East Jakarta, had also been recently dredged to expand its capacity as a water catchment area. (ogi)
