Flooding hits Indonesian capital, roads blocked

PanARMENIAN.Net - Flooding has hit parts of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, closing offices and blocking roads, after days of heavy rain, according to BBC News.

Areas including the central business district (CBD) were inundated. Businesses were closed and traffic grid-locked.

Weather officials warn that the rain, which is seasonal, could get worse in the next few days. The governor of Jakarta, Joko Widodo, has declared a state of emergency.

Officials said on Wednesday, Jan 16, that more than 9,000 people were in shelters after being forced to leave their homes.

"Days of heavy downpours caused the rivers to overflow and triggered floods up to 3m (10 feet)," National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP news agency on Wednesday.

On Thursday many government offices and businesses in Jakarta were forced to close because staff could not get to work.

The presidential palace could flood, the Jakarta Post reported, if a drainage canal does not cope with the increased volume of water.

Local television pictures showed people wading through almost neck-high water in some parts of the city and floodwater spreading to the CBD - which usually remains untouched when the city floods.

This time officials have allowed the waters to pass through the CBD, which in theory should take the pressure off other low-lying areas.

State funds are available to help those affected by the flooding following the declaration of the state of emergency, which will remain in effect until January 27.

The last severe flooding in Jakarta was in 2007, when at least 40 people were killed and hundreds of thousands forced from their homes.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is due in Jakarta on Friday to meet top leaders and deliver a foreign policy speech.