Evacuated

Living isolated in Kelapa Gading has become unbearable, thus yesterday I moved out of the area. My evacuation vehicle was a Teh Botol SOSRO truck. More than 10 trucks from SOSRO were picking up people all around Kelapa Gading area and transporting to safe location. I'm not sure if SOSRO knows about it, I've tried to ask but they web-site is not updated since 2001, all contact details are wrong and I can't get their phone number.

SOSRO truck - evacuation vehicle

Several things surprised me over past few days:

1. I've found this on The Jakarta Post web-site "Less rain will be fall in all municipalities in the capital. If the rains fall, it will not be so heavy. Heavy rains may occur in Puncak, Bogor".

Oh, that's very interesting what Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) says, because it was raining like crazy in Jakarta last night. Has BMG prognosis been correct at least once? I've also tried to use their RSS data feed but it never worked, their server was down like half of the time. I start to be more curious about this agency.

2. Thuggery. Well, I had to pay to cross the only path across the river. Few thugs controling the path ensured that those who could not pay had to go thorugh shoulder deep stinky water. The SOSRO truck drivers have also told us that some areas of Kelapa Gading were controled by criminals who stopped their trucks and demanded money.

3. Attitude of some people. The SOSRO drivers were very helpful, didn't ask any money and took something like 30 people out of the area on the same truck. Many of those people had cars waiting for them around Arion mal. When we arrived, truck driver stopped near a gas station (around Superindo mal) and informed everyone that he needs to buy gasoline to get back for more people. He asked for any contribution. Now guess how many people contributed? Just me and my wife. All the other people on the truck just left without even saying thank you! I could not believe my eyes. Note: Most of those people were not poor. They were shooting pictures with fancy digital cameras all over the truck like they were on some safari or something.

4. Profesional building management. I'm very surprised how Gading Mediterania Residences building management handled the disaster. They were truly prepared. They had enough gasoline to run power generators for a few days, organised well managed flood refugees centre servicing neighbour areas. Clean water was available at all time and the place was well secured. I must say I'm impressed. Great job guys!

I'll try to post some updates when I get back to Kelapa Gading. However, I'm not sure when as it looks like the current condition is not getting better.

By the way finally I understand why so many villas in neighbour areas like to use Venice/Greek a like motives:

Water is a perfect match, isn't it?

PS: Lots of people have sent me e-mails asking about safety of travel to Jakarta, thus let me answer. It is safe to travel to Jakarta, you can get from the airport to main business district, but before you come here please make sure that you have a hotel room booked. Most hotels are at almost full occupancy rate, thus it could be a problem to get a room without prior booking.

Flood related posts by other bloggers: bricolage, Jakartass (aftermath), Unspun.

Jakarta Flood, February 2007

This week Jakarta experienced disastrous flood triggered by the high intensity of rain in the city and surrounding areas. It all started with a very heavy downpour on Thursday night which caused floods in some areas of Jakarta. Next morning number of offices reported missing employees who most likely could not get through the traffic havoc caused by the flood. I was myself stuck in the traffic jam on Friday morning and could not attend several meetings. Soon after I got informed that several of my clients have executed their Business Continuity Plans (BCP) and switched to teleworking. It wasn't without problems as telecommunication networks were also affected by the flood - apparently some telecommunication firms did not plan their DRP well. Fortunately, wireless networks were working well as I was able to access my e-mail from the car using 3G service.

Looking at the horrible traffic conditions and worsening weather, I decided to get back home. Luckily, I was back home early enough to avoid major downpour that happened around noon and caused major floods in South, central and North Jakarta. The area of Kelapa Gading was isolated by flood since 2pm and only trucks could get in or out of the area. I've spoken with taxi drivers who parked on a dry piece of road in front of Gading Mediterania Residences. They all were seriously troubled with the flood, as not only they were not able to make any earnings, but also they could not get back home. Moreover, they were all surrounded by people asking for a ride just to hear that there is no way out of the area as every road out is flooded.

Most shops and restaurants in the Kelapa Gading area were flooded. Those few which were still open were all out of stock by 10pm – fortunately I bought some additional supply earlier, fearing the rain will continue.

On Friday night very heavy downpours - an I mean heavy even by Asian standards - caused even greater flood. Water raised quickly and most roads turned into rivers. On Saturday morning I walked through the flood from Kelapa Gading area to Cempaka Mas mall. There was basically only one way through a very small bridge covered with water, the other option was to rent "mini-boat" which were quickly built by locals.

Anyway, here are some photos of the flood that I took around Kelapa Gading area:

Some shots from the local news:

Kelapa Gading (left), Sunter (right) - massive traffic jam on the Priok-Cawang tollway.

Sunter flood near Menara SMR - just near the Sunter exit from Cawang-Priok tollway

Flooded train station.

In summary, more than 100.000 people had to leave their homes and electricity was cut in several districts. To make it even worse, more rain is expected on Saturday evening.

Updates: flooded jakarta at night, Sunday, evacuated, Wendesday.