Flooding in Jakarta

We have felt like the rainy season in Jakarta has not been that bad until this year.  It seems like it has rained pretty much every day.  The last several days it has rained almost non-stop day and night.  Now many areas of the city are flooded.  I read an article today that said that 40% of Jakarta is below sea level.  It is no wonder that sustained heavy rains have caused extensive flooding.  So far it is not as bad as in 2007 where 350,000 people were displaced from their homes.  Even the business district which does not usually flood was inundated with water.

I should have stayed home today, but I mistakenly thought that it was just another rainy day. I’m not very good about keeping up with the news.  I had no idea that there was flooding in so many areas around the city.

While I was out, I got an sms from the school my children attend saying that bus riders were dismissed from school early.  I thought it would take me hours to get home in the rain and that traffic would be at a standstill.  Instead, I found that the roads we were on were relatively empty.  I made it home in record time.



This was my view of Jalan Sudirman just past the flying pizza man roundabout. It is normally packed with cars and almost impassable on a rainy day. It was totally empty. This picture was taken around 12:30pm.


I think I will stay home tomorrow.  We count ourselves blessed that we live in an area that has not flooded.  We got word from one of my daughter’s classmates that their house was flooded.  We feel badly for those that have been affected by the heavy rains.  It has stopped raining for the time being.  It was forecasted to continue to rain throughout the evening and through the next few days. We will see what happens in the days to come.