Jakarta – Residents of Depok in West Java are urging the city administration to widen the waterways in the Sukmajaya and Cimanggis subdistricts after streets there were submerged under floodwaters caused by heavy rainfall on Sunday night.

The water on Jl. Duta Pelni in Sukmajaya was 60 centimeters to 1 meter deep, while Jl. Haji Misan in Cimanggis was under about 40 cm of water. Flooding has occurred in those areas many times.

Daus, resident of Jl. Haji Misan, said the flooding occurred in his area on Sunday at about 9 p.m. The water, he said, came from the overflowing Jantung River, where it was not contained by the sheet piles.

"The overflowing water hit the residential areas because the waterways here are relatively narrow," Daus told kompas.com.

Another resident, Syaiful Anwar, said the flood also submerged the mosque.

"The community here had to get the floodwaters out of the mosque so we could conduct our morning prayer," he said.

Anwar urged the government to widen the waterways in the area to allow the water to flow properly and stay between the sheet piles. He also urged the public to stop dumping rubbish into the river as it caused the river to easily overflow.

"I actually did not put the blame on the government. The community awareness of environment preservation is low, too. Dumping rubbish caused the river to overflow," he said.

"To stop the floods occurring here, the waterways should be widened," he said. (das)

Source: https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2019/04/29/depok-urged-to-widen-waterways-after-flooding.html