Heavy rains have been hitting Jakarta since the new year’s eve, causing floods to wipe out the city. Accordingly, the calamity puts the city, and its surrounding cities, underwater.
Hundreds thousands residents are evacuating due to the damaging floods. It, in addition, is not the sole problem Jakarta is facing currently as, reportedly, several savages such as snakes and crocodiles come into contact in the area, local news reported.
Despite the floods being weakening in several areas, the number of losses is impactful. Reportedly, death toll reaches approximately 60 in various cities in Jakarta.
Properties, transportation, and infrastructures also greatly suffer from the disaster. Considering the damage, this is the most destructive floods in Jakarta in the decades.
“I never experience such floods in my residence. Usually, during heavy rains, the water height will not exceed my ankle. However, the rains during the new year’s eve were different. The water height reached my chest and it entered my house, up to my knees. My neighbor said this is the worst in the last 15 years,” a resident of Southern region of Jakarta said to GoTradingAsia in a statement.
“My friend who lived in Bekasi (a city near Jakarta) had it worse. The first floor of her house got submerged and she could not save anything besides some documents and the car. She said there were also snakes in the city.”
Also Read: Jakarta, Air Pollution, and a Responsibility
Attempts to Combat Jakarta Floods
In response to the floods, the government has been attempting to combat the floods. The attempts are to prevent further heavy rains, reduce the number of future possible casualties, as well as provision and save the casualties.
Among the attempts, cloud seeding is performed to try break up clouds upon entering Jakarta. Normally, cloud seeding is to trigger rainfalls during forest fires.
State-owned electricity firm PLN also shut down electricity in some parts of the city to intercept possible accidents. Accordingly, several casualties died by electrocuted.
Government authorities used hundreds of pumps to suck water from the areas. Among them are residential areas and public infrastructure such as railways.
Considering the flood, residents suspect that government allocates more money on other agendas rather than flood prevention, which has become one of Jakarta’s gruesome problems. Among the agendas, it is pertaining to investment in electric car race in the country’s capital in June.
“That’s just not true. It is a fabrication. I don’t think I need to respond. I don’t want to make any comment,” the current governor Anies Baswedan said.
Also Read: Indonesia Capital City Relocation May Cost $33 Billion
