Welcome Guest   |  Login   |   Signup
JG Logo
Sat, May 26, 2012
Archive Search

Cautious Relief on Jakarta Flooding as Iggy Moves Out
Dofa Fasila | January 31, 2012

Share This Page
0
0
0
0
Share with google+ :


Post a comment
Please login to post comment

Comments

Be the first to write your opinion!

Jakarta should be safe from any severe flooding in the next couple of days as Tropical Cyclone Iggy moves further out to sea, but the threat of a major deluge this month is still very real, the weather agency says.

Kukuh Ribudiyanto, the head of extreme weather at the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said on Tuesday that although the capital w ould still experience rain from the tail end of the storm system, it would not be as heavy as during the weekend and would not be accompanied by strong wind gusts.

“Iggy has actually been moving past and away from Jakarta over the past few days,” Kukuh said. “That means that during the next three days, the weather conditions in Jakarta will be relatively safe. So we will see less of the strong winds that hit the city recently.”

The winds and torrential rains associated with the storm system were blamed for the deaths of at least 17 people during the weekend, 14 of whom died after being hit by falling trees.

Kukuh added that although the danger of major flooding in the short term could be ruled out, Jakarta was not completely out of the woods yet.

He said the peak of the rainy season was now expected sometime in February, leaving open the possibility of major flooding sometime in the next few weeks.

The BMKG previously warned in December of the near certainty of floods hitting Jakarta in January, saying the rainfall intensity would peak then.

Despite a handful of isolated cases of flash flooding, however, the capital has remained largely flood-free. The relatively mild rainy season this time around has bucked predictions of a massive “once in five years” flood, similar to those that crippled Jakarta in early 2002 and 2007.

While the capital is safe for now, other parts of the country will see worsening weather, the BMKG said.

Faisal, an official at the agency’s maritime monitoring post in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, said winds in the Banda Sea would pick up strength, whipping up high waves and making it risky for fishermen to go out to sea.

He said the waves could be as high as 2.8 meters and the choppy seas would last at least until the weekend.

In the Sunda Strait, strong winds generated waves up to four meters high and forced officials at Bakauheni Port in Lampung to delay ferry crossings to Merak Port in Banten from Monday afternoon until Tuesday morning.

“There was also very poor visibility as a result of heavy fog, which is why we had to delay all departures,” said Heru Purwanto, the operational manager of state ferry operator ASDP’s Bakauheni branch.

Rough seas are also expected for the next couple of days around the Bangka-Belitung islands, with waves up to 2 meters high. However, BMKG is only predicting light rain for the area.

 

Additional reporting from Antara