The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
"Flood season" has officially started in Jakarta as hundreds of homes along the Ciliwung River, which runs through East and South Jakarta, were inundated to a depth of up to 2.5 meters Tuesday.
Thousands of residents of Kampung Melayu in East Jakarta were forced to take refuge in temporary shelters, while more than 1,000 others in Rawajati, Bukit Duri and Manggarai in South Jakarta also evacuated their flooded homes.
"The flood has affected 2,735 families or 10,260 people. Of the total number of affected families, 628 have been evacuated to emergency shelters," Sumarsono, a member of the Kampung Melayu neighborhood association, told Antara news agency.
Residents of Kampung Melayu are currently staying in temporary shelters in the Santa Maria school complex in Jatinegara, Hermina Hospital and Attawabin Mosque, while South Jakarta residents were directed to community health posts.
Although it has rained only sporadically throughout the day in the city this week, heavy downpours since Monday evening in Bogor, West Java, caused the levels of the Ciliwung River, which passes through Jakarta, to rise significantly higher.
According to data from the Jakarta Crisis Center houses on the banks of the Ciliwung were flooded 30 to 260 centimeters above the floor level.
Among the worst affected areas were East Jakarta's Kampung Melayu and Cawang, as well as South Jakarta's Bukit Duri and Manggarai.
Residents of Kebon Baru in Tebet, South Jakarta, have been carefully monitoring the level of the Ciliwung in their area, which regularly floods during the rainy season.
Operators have opened the Manggarai sluice gate in an attempt to open natural drainage routes for the floodwaters.
"We will leave the gate open until the total amount of water in the area is reduced," gate operator Adie Widodo said as quoted by Antara, adding that the gate would be shut as soon as the level on the measuring board dropped to 600 cm.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the water level in Manggarai had reached 825 cm.
At the Katulampa sluice gate in Bogor the water level had returned to normal Tuesday after reaching an alarming level Monday.
However, gate operators remain on alert as more wet weather is forecast, Katulampa gate operator Andi Sudirman said.
Aside from floodwater from Bogor, water has also been streaming into the city from Depok.
On Monday night, the level at the Depok sluice gate had reached 320 cm. Operators said that when it reached 400 cm, areas in South Jakarta, like Kebayoran Baru and Gudang Peluru, would flood.
Jakarta is vulnerable to flooding even when there is little rain because of its altitude -- much of it is near or below sea level -- and poor drainage system.
The administration has said the delay of the completion of the East Flood Canal, which will be linked to the existing 17-kilometer West Flood Canal, is the main reason why the city continues to flood.
The semicircular canal will accommodate excess water from all of the rivers in Jakarta.
However, critics have argued that the loss of open green space through residential and commercial development and the disregard shown toward the land-to-building ratio have contributed to the situation.
The last major floods hit the city in 2002, killing 21 people and displacing more than 380,000 others.
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