Jakarta floods leave 21 dead and 30,000 homeless

Torrential rain triggers emergency in Indonesian capital with thousands moved into temporary shelter and more downpours forecast

Torrential rain has caused flash floods to inundate large parts of Indonesia’s capital and nearby towns, killing at least 21 people and forcing thousands more to evacuate.

Deaths were caused by hypothermia, drowning and landslides, while four died after being electrocuted by power lines, the country’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said on its website on Thursday morning.

Nearly 30,000 Jakaratans had been evacuated to temporary shelters throughout the city by Thursday morning, the authorities said.

Social affairs ministry spokesman Joko Hariyanto said in a message to Reuters that the death toll had now reached 21 after standing at nine overnight

More rain and thunderstorms were forecast for later on Thursday.

Television footage showed cars almost completely submerged and people wading through murky brown water in some parts of the capital.

Water levels in east and south Jakarta as well as in the satellite cities of Tangerang and Bekasi in West Java province started to rise from 3am local time (2000 GMT) on Wednesday, according to the disaster mitigation agency.

Indonesia’s state electricity utility said it had switched off the power in hundreds of districts in Jakarta, which is home to 30 million people.

The floods also caused the temporary closure of the runway at Jakarta’s domestic Halim airport, with flights redirected to the capital’ bigger Soekarno airport.

City authorities have in the last few years sought to improve the low-lying city’s vulnerability to flooding during the rainy season.

More than 50 people died in one of the capital’s deadliest floods in 2007 and five years ago much of the centre of the city was inundated after canals overflowed.

Daniel, whose neighborhood was waterlogged, told reporters of his disappointment with the city government’s efforts to mitigate the floods, which happen yearly during the rainy season.

“I only have one hope, which is to ask the current governor to fix this because it impact all the people,” he said. “Take the right action please, look at what is happening now, bring the situation back to normal.”

[Top photo: A rescue team evacuates a mother and child after flooding in Jakarta. Photograph: Agung Fatma Putra/SOPA Images/REX/Shutterstock]