The flood that hit the capital city of Jakarta at the turn of the year has, for the most part, receded, but most of the city鈥檚 30 million residents are still struggling to return to their normal activities. Meanwhile, officials are calling Jakartans to exercise caution as torrential rains are still expected in the coming weeks.
The New Year celebration in the Indonesian capital city of Jakarta came to a screeching halt after torrential rain that began earlier on Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2019, lasted all the way to Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2020, causing severe flooding in and around Jakarta and its greater area.
The 2020 flooding, which has thus far reportedly killed 21 people and displaced more than 31,000 others, have receeded in most parts of the city, though pockets of water of varrying degrees in height 鈥� between 10cm to 150cm 鈥� continue to prevent residents from returning to their normal routines. A number of infrastructural facilities that was closed or shut down temporarily, such as the Halim Perdana Kusuma airport in East Jakarta and some electrical grids that were previously drowned in floodwater, are slowly resuming normal operations.
Jakarta is no stranger to flooding, but the floods that occured at the turn of the year was among the worst it has seen in the past few decades, rivaling even the 2013 flood that was famously captured by photos of Hotel Indonesia Junction being completely covered in brownish water, as well as the 2007 flooding in which more than 50 people died (see above chart).
Officials are attributing the cause of the 2020 flooding to the worst torrential rains the capital and its greater areas has seen since 1996 鈥� of up to 377mm per day in rainfall intensity in some parts of Jakarta, rivaling the average rainfall intensity of 340mm per day that occured in 2007.
Tension is also bubbling over flood mitigation efforts, or the lack thereof, taken by the regional governments and the central government 鈥� a topic that will surely dominate headlines over the coming days if not weeks.
Currently, officials are still warning residents to take necessary precuations against future floods as torrential rains are still expected in the coming weeks. Peak torrential rain is predicted to occur in February. Dams located in areas surrounding the city are also still reporting high levels of rainwater flowing into the capital.
Jakarta, with its geographical setting as a flood basin, experiences floods of varying intensities nearly every year as it is a passover for several river canals that channel rainwater directly from the land to the ocean. These river canals are heavily polluted and are also getting smaller due to the high number of constructs, both legal and illegal. Meanwhile, the effects of climate change are causing the sea level on the city鈥檚 northern coast to rise, making Jakarta one of the fastest sinking cities in the world. All these contributed to President Joko Widodo鈥檚 decision to take concrete steps in moving the city鈥檚 capital to Kalimantan, an undertaking that is still years from fruition. The Jakarta city government, in the meantime, will have to make bold moves if it wants to prevent anymore severe flooding in the future.