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Flooding affects nine Jakarta subdistricts
A worker operates a water pump in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, on Friday in an attempt to assist the flow of floodwater from residential areas on Jl
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span class="inline inline-center">A worker operates a water pump in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, on Friday in an attempt to assist the flow of floodwater from residential areas on Jl. Lenteng Agung (Aldi Geri Lumban Tobing/beritajakarta.com)
The torrential rains that hit Jakarta and its upper areas ' Bogor and Depok in West Java ' starting Friday have caused flooding across nine subdistricts in the capital, in East and South Jakarta, forcing hundreds of people to seek temporary shelter.
About 60 members of the East Jakarta rescue team managed to evacuate 229 residents trapped within inundated houses, said head of East Jakarta's Fire and Rescue Agency Gatot Sulaiman as reported by beritajakarta.com on Saturday.
One of the flood victims was rushed to a city owned hospital in Ciracas, East Jakarta, as he had shown signs of serious illness when rescuers had arrived at his house, he added. 'The 229 residents were taken from nine areas in East Jakarta. One of the victims was rushed to a hospital,' Gatot added.
Jakarta's Disaster Management Body (BPBD)'s spokesman Bambang Suryaputra said that in East Jakarta the flooding had affected 1,080 people living in six subdistricts, while in South Jakarta the flooding affected three subdistricts.
The BPBD Jakarta website also reported that some 40 to 50 centimeters of water continued to inundate Jl. Sirsak in Jagakarsa, South Jakarta, on Saturday as a result of the heavy rains on Friday evening.
Pekayon subdistrict, Cibubur Market and Cipinang Melayu sundistrict in East Jakarta were still inundated by 50 centimeters of water.
Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said that the remaining flooding in Jakarta was caused by the clogged drainage system. He said his administration was currently trying to find a way to eliminate anything that may still be blocking rain water from flowing into the river.
'In the past, when workers repaired the sidewalks, they closed the water way. We have found the causes of the inundation and we are working on them,' the governor said.
A number of river walls collapsed when they were hit by flood waters, causing flooding in a number of residential areas in Ciracas, East Jakarta, the governor said as reported by kompas.com.
He promised to start to repair the river walls in March and in May so as to protect residential areas from flooding. 'Generally, flooding was caused by the collapse of the river walls. If there is no wall collapse, flooding would immediately recede,' he added.
Meanwhile, Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) said that light and medium levels of rain would continue to fall in Jakarta, Bogor, Depok, Bekasi and Tangerang on Saturday. (bbn)
