Jakarta, Indonesia – Boats ferried supplies to desperate residents of Indonesia’s flood- stricken capital Sunday as rivers burst their banks following days of rain. At least 20 people have been killed and almost 340,000 forced from their homes, officials said.
Hundreds of people scrambled to the second floors of their houses to escape the rising waters. Some found themselves trapped, while others refused to leave despite warnings that the muddy floodwaters – over 13 feet deep in places – may rise further in the coming days.
“Jakarta is now on the highest alert level,” said Sihar Simanjuntak, an official who monitors the many rivers that crisscross this city of 12 million people. “The floods are getting worse.”
Indonesia’s meteorological agency is forecasting two weeks of rain.
The government dispatched medical teams on rubber rafts into the worst-hit districts to prevent outbreaks of disease among residents without clean drinking water.
Edi Darma, an official at Jakarta’s Flood Crisis Center, said 20 people had died in Jakarta and surrounding towns as of late Sunday, mostly by either drowning or electrocution.
“We were starving for two days,” said Sri Hatyati, who was rescued from her house by soldiers on a dinghy Sunday. “All we had were dried noodles. We were unable to go anywhere.”
Rain that starting falling Thursday on Jakarta and the hills south of the city triggered the floods. Tens of thousands of homes, schools and hospitals were inundated.
Authorities have cut off electricity and the water supply in many districts.
There was little rainfall over Jakarta on Sunday, but downpours over the southern hills caused rivers to swell across the city, prompting authorities to open floodgates.
Jakarta is regularly struck with floods, though not on the scale as in recent days. Dozens of slum areas near rivers are washed out each year. Some residents refuse to move; others say they cannot afford to live elsewhere.
