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Jakarta. Heavy rains over the weekend caused the usual traffic chaos across Jakarta, while the weather agency has warned that the intensity of the downpours will continue to increase through the month.

The showers that hit around noon on Saturday were coupled with strong winds that uprooted a tree outside Wisma GKBI on Jalan Sudirman, causing heavy congestion along that thoroughfare as well as Jalan Thamrin.

The wind also brought down a tree in Tebet, South Jakarta, that fell onto a parked car, while a motorcycle was damaged in a similar incident outside the Jamsostek tower on Jalan Gatot Subroto in South Jakarta. No one was injured in either incident, which also backed up traffic in those areas.

The most spectacular piece of damage, though, occurred when the wind ripped off metal panels from the side of the Oakwood apartment building in the upscale Mega Kuningan business district in South Jakarta.

The Jakarta Police’s Traffic Management Center said much of the gridlock over the weekend was centered in South Jakarta, which saw some streets flooded in up to 60 centimeters of water.

Affected areas included Pancoran, Ampera, Simatupang and Rasuna Said.

Jakarta Police traffic director Sr. Comr. Royke Lumowa said officers resorted to directing traffic into busway lanes and toll roads to help ease the jam. He added that police were working with the city’s transportation office and parks office to manage traffic and clear felled trees from the roads.

Sunday’s rains were less intense, although they affected much of the southern half of the capital and all the satellite cities of Depok, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi, according to Hari Tirto Jatmiko, head of information at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).

He added that rainfall intensity would continue to pick up over the next few weeks.

“The heaviest rains normally hit Jakarta between December and February, so we’re now just in the preliminary stage,” he said.