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1 Dead as Windstorm Wreaks Havoc Across a Soggy Jakarta
Michelle Natalie & Ulma Haryanto | January 06, 2012

Match of the day. Children playing football on a muddy field in Buaran, East Jakarta, on Thursday. Heavy rains and high winds do little to discourage them from having a kickabout. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya) Match of the day. Children playing football on a muddy field in Buaran, East Jakarta, on Thursday. Heavy rains and high winds do little to discourage them from having a kickabout. (JG Photo/Yudhi Sukma Wijaya)
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A sudden, windy downpour felled trees, street lamps and signs across Jakarta on Thursday afternoon, leaving at least one person dead and causing injuries, property damage and a painful evening commute.

West Jakarta Traffic Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sularno said a young man was electrocuted after stepping in a puddle along the Tomang toll road in West Jakarta.

“The driver was getting out of his box car when he stepped in the puddle, and there was an electric wire from a fallen pole nearby,” he told the Jakarta Globe.

The driver, identified as Yadi, 28, had been transporting clothes when the car was half-crushed by a fallen billboard.

Dozens of other vehicles were reportedly hit by falling trees in several areas, including inside the complex of the Central Jakarta major’s office, where parked cars and motorcycles were pinned beneath fallen trees.

“Some windows were also broken on the ground floor, third floor and fifth floor,” said Rias Askaris, the housekeeper at the mayor’s office.

Jakarta news portal BeritaJakarta also reported that a fallen tree had damaged the roof of a state elementary school in Tanah Abang.

At the Presidential Palace, dozens of gardeners rushed to save the trembesi (rain) tree, which fell to the strong winds despite their efforts. The tree was planted by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last July.

The strong winds also blew the roof off a pedestrian bridge near the Season City shopping center in West Jakarta and dislodged an overhead power line near a bus stop in Pulomas, East Jakarta, bringing traffic to a halt.

“It was like a typhoon just hit Jakarta,” said 28-year-old Ajeng, pointing to swaying trees on busy Jalan Sudirman.

A TransJakarta busway shelter in Dukuh Atas, South Jakarta, had to be closed for several hours after it was hit by a tree.

State railway operator KAI also reported delays of 30-45 minutes caused by numerous branches blocking tracks between the Pasar Minggu and Pasar Minggu Baru train stations in South Jakarta.

By late afternoon, before rush hour, at least 25 roads were partially blocked by fallen trees and other debris.

At 5:30 p.m., police announced that the three-in-one rule had been lifted. Vehicles passing in front of Cipinang prison in East Jakarta were also allowed to use the TransJakarta lane.

But commuters found themselves stuck in glacial traffic in the Sudirman and Gatot Subroto areas of South Jakarta.

“The traffic has been standing still for 30 minutes now,” 25-year old Yoanita Simanjuntak said of South Jakarta’s business district.

Hary Djatmiko, a spokesman for the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said on Monday that Jakarta was in for buckets of rain over the next few months but that the rainy season would peak this month.

Although Jakarta has seen a rising intensity in the rain this week, Hary said there was no threat of flooding given water levels in dams in and around the city were within a normal range.