An incessant and heavy downpour resulted in flooding in dozens of locations across the city on Wednesday, causing gridlock in many parts of the city and disrupting several commuter train schedules.

Ekky Muzakir, who lives in Cinere, South Tangerang, said he was forced to take another route as he could not access a flooded road in front of the WTC Mangga Dua shopping mall in North Jakarta.

'€œI was heading to Kota, but Jl. Mangga Dua was inundated like an ocean. No motorists could pass the road. Some people took a wooden cart to get through the water,'€ he told The Jakarta Post over
the phone.

The Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) reported 20 locations that had suffered flooding, varying from 10 centimeters to 80 cm, half of which were located in West Jakarta.

According to the BPBD, the inundated areas in West Jakarta included Jl. Kapuk Raya, Jl. Jembatan Tiga, Jl. Daan Mogot and in front of Trisakti University on Jl. S. Parman.

In North Jakarta, rainwater inundated the area in front of the Jakarta Islamic Center on Jl. Kramat Jaya, Jl. Percetakan Negara and Bungur alley on Jl. Kemayoran.

In South Jakarta, flooding hit Jl. Cileduk Raya, Jl. Raya Pasar Minggu and Jl. Fatmawati.

Meanwhile, traffic was paralyzed on Jl. Mangga Dua Raya as the inundation reached 50 cm.

'€œThe intensity of the rainfall increased after starting at 7 a.m. At 9 a.m., water levels at the Pasar Ikan sluice gate rose to the third level, but returned to normal in the afternoon,'€ Suratman, an operations officer at the BPBD'€™s operational control center (Pusdalops), said.

He also reported that a large tree had been uprooted on Jl. Perintis Kemerdekaan in Cempaka Putih, Central Jakarta, affecting traffic in the area.

Heavy rain also inundated a section of railway between Rajawali station and Kampung Bandan station in North Jakarta, temporarily causing passengers traveling to Jatinegara in East Jakarta to stop at Duri station.

Two hours later at 12 p.m., commuter line operator PT KAI Commuter Jabodetabek (KCJ) posted on its official Twitter account @CommuterLine that the service was running again as normal.

BPBD implementation head Bambang Musyawardhana said that, according to his observations, thousands of absorption pits that were constructed last year had performed well in collecting excess water, but they could not address the larger problem '€” that of clogged sewers.

'€œWe are facing inundation because the drainage system cannot cope with the water debit. We are now checking those areas that are prone to floods, but there have been no reports of flooding so far,'€ he told the Post over the phone.

He said Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta, for example, was still safe.

Last year, the city allocated Rp 2.5 trillion (US$205 million) in the 2013 city budget to fund flood mitigation projects, including dredging projects and the construction of around 2,000 absorption pits. Around 70 percent of the pits were completed by last month.

The administration also carried out maintenance work on the pumps, so they would be ready in case of flooding, and started to revitalize several drainage systems, most of which were clogged or covered by illegal buildings.

The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has forecast that the rainy season will reach its peak during the second half of January. Jakartans can expect light to medium downpours in the afternoons and evenings from Jan. 9 to 13, with heavy rainfall possibly occurring in South Jakarta and East Jakarta.

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