Thousands caught by surprise as water floods homes and closes road to airport
Straits Times 29 Nov 07;
JAKARTA - INDONESIA'S environment minister has blamed global warming for floods in some parts of the capital on Tuesday which forced thousands of people to flee inundated homes and cut off a highway leading to the airport.
The authorities used pumps to lower water levels, which rose to 1.7m in the worst-hit areas and washed 2km inland from the sea, said Mr Iskandar, an official with Jakarta's flood crisis centre.
'I have not seen it this bad in several years,' said Mr Toki, a policeman directing traffic at a flooded area near the international Sukarno-Hatta Airport.
Thousands of people were stranded or trapped yesterday, forcing many flights to leave with only a handful of passengers.
Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar said global warming was partly to blame, with rising sea levels making coastal cities such as Jakarta especially vulnerable to flooding and monsoon storms.
But the authorities also ignored warnings about exceptionally high 18-year tide cycles, flood expert Jan Japp Brinkman told the Jakarta Post newspaper yesterday, and the situation was exacerbated by a failure to fix a sea barrier that was breached more than a week ago.
Mr Iskandar said at least 2,200 houses were inundated.
An official at one of the affected districts, Mr Satiri, said the government had warned residents of the possibility of a high tide, sending a circular asking them to prepare for it on Nov 26 or Nov 27.
But the residents, local officials and the city apparently ignored the warnings.
'Most of the wealthy residents went to stay at their relatives' homes or apartments, while others evacuated to the nearby mosque,' Mr Satiri said.
Resident Goang Rusdianto said he did not see the flood coming because he thought the embankment was fine after it was repaired last year.
'We have got used to floods here. However, this time, the water came too quickly,' he said.
Local officials and the police were also not prepared, and residents had to help regulate traffic.
Mr Ahmad Pasha, a security guard, said he blocked access to a flooded street despite protests from motorists.
In an e-mail to the Jakarta Post, Mr Brinkman said the flood would be worsened by North Jakarta's low coastal defence.
He predicted that tidal levels would continue to increase until 2009, and would drop slowly to their lowest levels in 2018.
He added that the cyclical high tide was not related to climate change.
ASSOCIATED PRESS, JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
