Jakarta – Appointments were canceled, passengers were left stranded and residents were forced to leave their homes. Jakarta was chaotic on Friday.
Hours of heavy rains that started Thursday night saw many parts of the city come to a standstill by Friday afternoon. Water inundated main thoroughfares, including the Sedyatmo toll road to the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
"At the toll to the airport, motorists were trapped in traffic since 2:00 p.m.," Traffic Management Center (TMC) officer First Brig. Yoka Mulyadi told The Jakarta Post Friday night.
"Many were reported to have fainted. We received many calls for help; the trapped motorists asked us to send drinking water and food," Yoka said. He said there were more than 40 locations inundated by waters up to one meter high.
Rainwater flooded many of the capital's municipalities, with 37 of 267 subdistricts inundated more than 40 centimeters high.
On Jl. Gatot Subroto, Yoka said, people were trapped for more than three hours in traffic jams, from 4:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. In some areas, people were seen walking on foot or sharing a ride on open trucks after failing to get public transportation.
Sukma, a motorist, said Friday he had to push his motorcycle from Jl. Gunung Sahari to reach his office located on Jl. Kebon Kacang in Central Jakarta. "I have pushed my motorcycle for about an hour and now the machine is badly broken," Sukma said.
Floodwaters caused public transportation across the city to stop operations. Three Transjakarta lines were stopped by noon, leaving hundreds stranded. Stoppage information was not given to those waiting at bus stops.
Yudi said he and his mother waited for a Transjakarta bus traveling from Harmoni to Pulogadung, to no avail. "The flood is so awful everywhere. We don't know how we can reach home in Pulogadung," he said.
PT KA's head of public relations for the Jakarta area Akhmad Sujadi said the water submerged railways stretching from Rawa Buaya to Kalideres, causing the company to cancel the Tangerang-Jakarta's train route. "We also stopped carrying passengers between Serpong and Tanah Abang," he said.
Five trees were reported to have fallen across main thoroughfares, adding to traffic congestion.
Floodwaters also submerged residential areas. In West Jakarta, around 1,000 Pegadungan residents were evacuated to a mosque compound, while 150 Semanan residents moved to a shelter nearby, said municipality spokesperson Rachmat Mulyadi. "The water levels in the area is about 1.5 meter," he said.
West Jakarta task force center recorded 3,000 residents had been evacuated from their homes. Adi, an officer at the North Jakarta task force center, said there were around 300 residents in five shelters. He said in one of the camps, displaced people included women and children, but that many men had preferred to stand guard at their homes.