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eavy rains and strong winds in the past week have forced residents and administrations in Greater Jakarta to gear up for rain-related disasters such as floods.

A resident of Tangerang city Aloisia Joanne said she never left her sandals and raincoat behind when she left her house after being trapped in the middle of a thunderstorm a couple of days ago. She said she had been on Jl. MH Thamrin in Cikokol of Tangerang when the storm broke.

“I was shocked because I had never seen the road inundated that severely before,” Ane said.

Meanwhile, Muhammad Ridlo, 24, a resident of Lubang Buaya in East Jakarta, delayed his return trip to Jakarta from Jatinangor, West Java, after learning that floods had brought the Cikampek toll road in Bekasi to a complete standstill on Sunday evening.

A number of other places were severely inundated due to thunderstorms that struck all areas of Greater Jakarta.

As many as 800 residents of 1,000 houses in the Total Persada residential complex in Periuk, Tangerang, had to be evacuated to a nearby mosque and sports hall after 2-meter-high waters inundated the housing complex.

Cloudbursts in Greater Jakarta as well as water runoff from upstream areas such as Bogor in West Java, had contributed to the floods, said Tangerang Mitigation Agency head Irman Pujahendra. As of Monday evening, the Total Persada complex was still inundated by 1.5-meter-high waters.

The agency is teaming up with local police in order to mitigate the flood and the victims by deploying 14 boats for the evacuation and 12 water pumps to ease the flooding, he added.

He called on Tangerang residents to remain alert amid the extreme weather while also taking good care of their environment, by managing their garbage and cleaning sewers.

Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) head Yunus S. Swarinoto also confirmed recent extreme weather in several regions in Indonesia triggered by unstable atmospheric conditions.

According to the BMKG’s predictions these conditions will lead to increasingly intense thunderstorms and possible thunder and lightning until the end of November.

The rainy season would peak between November and early 2017, he said, adding that residents must anticipate any possible disasters, such as floods, landslides and fallen trees, given the current weather phenomena.

Heavy downpours also caused at least a dozen trees to fall in the capital recently, damaging a number of vehicles and public facilities.

Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency provides a hotline service at 112 to accept any emergency calls from residents related to disasters. (van)