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Jakarta braces for floods, dengue fever as La Niña arrives
Jakarta disaster agency warns residents of the capital and its satellite cities of possible extreme weather and floods.
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Girls walk along a street affected by floods in Jakarta on Feb. 8, 2021.
(Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
T
hreats of flooding and a surge in dengue fever cases loom in Greater Jakarta as the weather phenomenon La Niña returns for the second time this year and it is expected to last until February of next year.
Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD Jakarta) has warned residents of the capital and its satellite cities -- Bogor, Depok and Bekasi in West Java and Tangerang in Banten -- of possible extreme weather and subsequent hydrometeorological hazards as a result of the weather anomaly.
"The public should remain vigilant about potential extreme weather, including heavy downpours, strong winds, thunderstorms and hail that could result in flash floods, landslides or whirlwinds," the agency posted on Instagram on Sunday.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) defines La Niña as “the large-scale cooling of the ocean surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, coupled with changes in the tropical atmospheric circulation, namely winds, pressure and rainfall”.
The weather phenomenon tends to bring wetter and longer rainy seasons and triggers extreme weather in Indonesia, causing floods, landslides, heavy winds and extreme waves.
In February of this year for example, more than 1,300 people from 20 neighborhood units in Jakarta had to take shelter when floods inundated their homes as La Niña peaked.
Read also: Thousands evacuated, traffic disrupted as floods hit Jakarta at rainy season peak
