TEMPO Interactive, Jakarta: The floods that have been taking place in Jakarta since Friday have broken flood records in Jakarta.
Yesterday (4/1), the fury of the Ciliwung River’s flooding was the worst in the last ten years.
The waters of the Ciliwung flowed into areas that have never been hit by flood, including Jalan Otto Iskandar Dinata.
At the Katulampa Dam, Bogor, at one stage the Ciliwung’s water surface was 250 centimeters above its peak, with water flow speed reaching 637 cubic meters per second.
“These amounts match the flood record in 1996,” said Andi Sudirman, an official at the Katulampa Dam.
In 2002, when Jakarta was hit by larges floods, the water surface at the Katulampa Dam was only 150 centimeter above its peak.
The water flow speed of the Ciliwung upstream was only 276 cubic meters per second.
The fury of the Ciliwung was also seen at the Manggarai floodgate, South Jakarta, where yesterday morning, the water depth was 1,090 centimeters.
“It’s higher compared to in 2002,” said Adie Widodo, a Manggarai floodgate official.
At its peak the water depth in 2002 was only 1,050 centimeters.
As a result, tremendous floods inundated many areas in the capital city yesterday.
In Kampung Melayu, East Jakarta, for example, the flooding was seven meters deep.
The Kalibata Bridge, which the Ciliwung River crosses under, was in danger of being swift away.
Trash clogged up under the bridge made the flow of the river even more powerful.
“The bridge structure trembled. It could end up being swept away,” said Pitoyo Subandrio, Head of Cisadane-Ciliwung River Development Execution.
Due to the Ciliwung River’s continuing ferocity, yesterday Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso declared Jakarta to be on Alert I status.
The governor also opened the Manggarai floodgate heading towards Jakarta Kota, thus putting the State Palace at risk of being flooded.
Up to yesterday, the amount of people who had died because of the flooding rose to 20.
The Search and Rescue team also experienced difficulties in evacuating victims trapped by the floods.
According to Pitoyo, this year the Ciliwung’s overflow is greater than in previous years, and he said, “Seen from the impact, it’s in fact greater.”
The main problem that caused this great overflow is the change in Ciliwung River Watershed zoning.
And it seems as if the fury of the Ciliwung will not subside.
According to the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), rain will continue falling in Jakarta and its surrounding areas, including Ciliwung upstream areas, until February 7.
Deffan P | Rudy P | Sofian | Reza M | Rieka R
No comments:
Post a Comment