The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has forecast inclement weather for many parts of the archipelago through Thursday.

It said the Greater Jakarta area would see medium to heavy rain during the next two days, prompting fears of further flooding.

The agency forecast heavy rain for the western, southern and northern parts of Jakarta and surrounding areas on Wednesday.

'€œHeavy downpours may occur in the afternoon, evening and at dawn. The rain over the next two days is sporadic and no more extreme than today,'€ Hari Tirto, head of the meteorology information sub-directorate at the agency, said on Tuesday.

The agency also said the extreme weather was triggered by several factors, including a low-pressure system in northern Australia and the Gulf of Carpentaria and high winds spanning from the Indian Ocean near Banten to East Nusa Tenggara, the Banda Sea and the Arafuru Sea. Meanwhile, high humidity and warm seawater surface temperatures have spurred cloud growth in southern and eastern Indonesia.

Meanwhile, thousands of evacuees in the city returned to shelters following incessant rain from Monday evening to Tuesday morning. Data from the Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) shows that as of Tuesday evening, the number of evacuees more than doubled to 18,503 from 9,092 on Monday evening. They were evacuated to more than 50 shelters in 21 subdistricts across the city.

'€œI have been going back and forth to my house to clean up the mud and water. If I knew the water level would rise again, I would not have wasted my energy yesterday,'€ said Yunila, an evacuee who took shelter in the Binawan Institute of Health Science in Kalibata, South Jakarta.

The middle-aged woman, who had been living in the shelter for three weeks, said although her
neighborhood was regularly hit by floods, she did not intend to move to another place because she lived among friendly neighbors and relatives.

Floods on Tuesday drowned several areas mostly in West Jakarta, including along Jl. Kembangan Utara Raya, Jl. Semanan Raya, in front of Tarumanagara University in Grogol, in front of Roxy Square on Jl. Hasyim Ashari and Jl. Daan Mogot.

The floods disrupted the Transjakarta bus service along several corridors where bus stops were used by residents to take shelter.

BMKG says the flooding on Tuesday was the result of medium to heavy rains concentrated on western parts of Jakarta and Greater Jakarta. The rain was heaviest in Kedoya, West Jakarta, where an estimated 128.7 millimeters was falling per day.

Rainfall more than 100 mm per day is categorized as very heavy, while rainfall between 50 mm to 100 mm per day is categorized as heavy.

Despite disruptions and displacements, the flooding this year has been considered slightly less severe than last year, when as of January the official death toll attributed to floods was 27 people compared to 23 this year. Last year'€™s flood affected 250,000 people in 102 subdistricts and displaced 40,425 people while until Jan. 22, 2014, the flooding has displaced 89,334 people in 99 subdistricts.

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