Torrential rain shuts down Jakarta airport

Salim Osman, Straits Times 2 Feb 08;

JAKARTA - HEAVY rain yesterday forced the six-hour closure of Jakarta's airport due to poor visibility, disrupting more than 100 flights.

Three Singapore Airlines aircraft had to return to Changi Airport after they were unable to land.

This was the first time in the airport's 25-year history that it had to be closed due to poor visibility, said Jakarta airport spokesman Muhammad Wasfan.

For about six hours from 10am, the chaos in the air traffic at the Sukarno-Hatta Airport in Cengkaring forced more than 50 incoming flights to be diverted to Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma, and airports in Surabaya, East Java, Palembang and Pekan Baru in Sumatra.

Some 50 other outgoing flights, including an unknown number of international flights, were delayed. Thousands of passengers were stranded at the airport terminals.

Thousands of people could not even reach the airport due to widespread flooding on the road leading to the terminals.

There was also massive flooding in the capital.

The equivalent of a month's rain, or 300mm, fell in the intense downpour near the airport yesterday, Mr Achmad Zakir, head of meteorology information, was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.

Mr Wasfan told The Straits Times yesterday: 'We had to close the airport for several hours because the visibility was less than 300m, while it should be more than 500m.

'The runway was fine, not inundated by water, but the rain and fog had so blurred visibility that we decided to close the airport.'

SIA spokesman Stephen Forshaw said that three SIA aircraft heading for Jakarta - SQ954, SQ956 and SQ958 - were unable to land and returned to Singapore.

An SIA official in Jakarta told The Straits Times that two SIA planes flying from Jakarta to Singapore were able to take off before the airport was closed.

Jakarta airport closed, cars stranded after torrential rains
Business Times 2 Feb 08;

(JAKARTA) Indonesia's main airport was closed yesterday as more than 40 flights were delayed and some forced to return after takeoff due to low visibility following torrential rains.

Several cars were stranded and people waded through nearly knee-high water as flood waters swamped roads and strong winds battered the city of 14 million, which is hit by massive floods at this time almost every year.

'The runway is fine, it is not inundated by water but the rain and fog have blurred visibility. Visibility is less than 300 metres while it should be more than 500 metres,' said Hariyanto, an official at Soekarno Hatta airport. 'The airport has been closed since 10am and 43 flights have been delayed. There are 12 flights from outside Jakarta that cannot land.'

He said later that 15 flights had been diverted to Jakarta's smaller Halim airport, while several planes coming to the capital were forced to return to Singapore.

Scores of cars were left abandoned in the streets of the capital as people had to wade through muddy brown flood water.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to abandon his bullet-proof presidential car after his motorcade tried to pass through knee-high flood waters.

The president's security escort had to usher Mr Yudhoyono into a sport utility vehicle after his Mercedes Benz got stuck on a main road about two kilometres from the presidential palace.

Indonesia's capital is regularly hit by floods and last year about 50 people died, many due to electrocution, and more than 400,000 were displaced after days of heavy rain. There were no reports of deaths in Jakarta yesterday.

After the 2007 floods, the then governor of Jakarta said the city administration needed more help from the central government to deal with the annual hazard\. \-- Reuters