Severe flooding hit a number of Ciliwung riverbank areas in East Jakarta and have affected some 5,000 people in the municipality.
East Jakarta Mayor Bambang Musyawardana said on Monday the water levels in the affected areas, such as Bidara Cina, Cawang and Kampung Melayu, had reached depths of up to 160 centimeters.
At least 5,000 people from around 1,600 households were affected by the flooding, but the majority of them insisted on staying at their residences, Bambang said.
The East Jakarta mayoralty, however, has still prepared some camps to accommodate potential evacuees in case the situation worsened.
“A number of affected residents have agreed to evacuate their homes, but the authorities will watch out for those who have refused to move to the evacuation camps,” Bambang said.
The heavy rainfall rapidly increased the water level at the Katulampa sluice gate in Bogor from 70 cm at 3 a.m. to 240 cm at 9 a.m. on Monday morning, which was a sign for potential flooding in the Ciliwung riverbank areas in Jakarta.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan visited the Manggarai sluice gate in Central Jakarta to see whether the water from Bogor was flowing smoothly. During the visit, Anies assured the public that the administration was ready to tackle potential flooding as all three sluice gates in the capital had already been opened.
He also instructed the Jakarta Environment Agency to clear the sluice gates from accumulating garbage carried out by the flowing water from Bogor. Around 200 tons of garbage had been cleared on Monday from the Manggarai sluice gate by heavy equipment deployed by the agency.
