Heavy rain, strong winds predicted to hit Jakarta
After heavy rain drenched Jakarta on Monday afternoon, several areas suffered from flooding, including in Rawa Terate, Cakung subdistrict, East Jakarta.
The Jakarta Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD), via its official Twitter account @BPBDJakarta, reported at 4:47 p.m. that there was 1-meter-deep flooding in the area.
The agency recorded that the heavy rain had left at least seven areas across East, West and South Jakarta with around 10 to 20 centimeters of inundation as of 5:27 p.m.
“We call on people planning to use the [inundated] roads to be careful and choose alternative roads instead,” @BPDBJakarta tweeted.
The Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warned on Monday that heavy rain with strong winds and lightning could potentially occur in the next few days in Greater Jakarta.
BMKG spokesman Hary Djatmiko said the agency had predicted that such weather conditions would continue in the capital until Friday, as the rainy season had just begun in late November.
The agency predicts that the rainy season across the country will last until March next year.
He also said the agency had predicted that the peak of the rainy season nationwide would occur from December until February. Meanwhile, the peak of the rainy season in Greater Jakarta was likely be in January and February, he said.
“If we look at the pattern, [the peak of the rainy season in Greater Jakarta] will be from mid January until mid February,” he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Hary explained that the agency regularly communicated weather prediction updates to regional
administrations.
“Updates will be every 10 days or monthly,” he said, adding that the weather updates from the agency would hopefully help each regional administration to mitigate the risk of flooding or landslides.
With flooding having already occurred in a number of areas across the capital, Jakarta is bracing for the impacts of the rainy season.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan recently said there were 30 flood-prone areas spread across five administrations, four of which are in Central Jakarta, 13 in South Jakarta, four in East Jakarta, six in West Jakarta and three in North Jakarta.
Read more: The Jakarta Post