Indonesia Flooding
Jakarta, Indonesia — Flooding that has killed at least nine people and forced some 200,000 from their homes in the Indonesian capital showed no sign of abating Sunday, as overflowing rivers sent muddy water gushing into homes and shops across the city.
Overnight rains caused more rivers to burst their banks across Jakarta, sending muddy water up to six feet deep into more residential and commercial areas in the densely packed city of 12 million people.
„Jakarta is now on the highest alert level,“ said Sihar Simanjuntak, an official monitoring water levels at key rivers across the city.
Two days of incessant rain over Jakarta and hills to its south triggered the city’s worst floods in recent memory Friday, highlighting Indonesia’s infrastructure problems as it tries to attract badly needed foreign investment.
Dr. Rustam Pakaya of the health ministry’s crisis center said that nine people in Jakarta and surrounding towns had died as of Sunday afternoon.
The waters have inundated more than 20,000 homes, school and hospitals in poor and wealthy districts alike, forcing authorities to cut off electricity and water supplies and paralyzing transport networks.
Government agencies are struggling to provide aid to the homeless, many of whom are staying with friends or family on higher ground, or at mosques and government agencies. Some are holding out on the second floors of their homes, refusing to be relocated by soldiers in rubber dinghies, officials said.