Posted on September 1, 2016
The Jakarta Water Management Agency and South Jakarta Water Management Agency were preparing to dredge Krukut River in South Jakarta on Tuesday. The dredging is expected to be finished in three weeks.
On Tuesday, at least 10 personnel in a joint task force of Jakarta and South Jakarta Water Management agencies were constructing gabions (mesh cages filled with rocks). South Jakarta Water Management Agency’s head of flood control system management, Yudo Widiatmoko, said that the gabions were being constructed to anticipate future rises in the Krukut River during heavy rains.
“This is a temporary solution as gabions can be constructed in just two or three days,” Yudo said.
He said that dredging of the Krukut River on Jalan Taman Kemang would begin on Wednesday (31/8/2016).
An additional excavator, one crane and five trucks to transport the sludge would arrive early Wednesday. The plan was to increase the depth of the Krukut River from 1.5 meters to 3-4 meters.
Mampang Prapatan district head Asril Rizal said that restoring the flow of the Krukut River was urgent. “The width of the Krukut River is currently less than 10 meters. Ideally it should be 20 meters wide,” Asril said.
Separately, flooding due to the overflowing of Rawa Babon dam lasted for three days and inundated 38 houses in three neighborhood units (RT) in community unit (RW) 008, Kelapa Dua Sub-district, Ciracas District, East Jakarta. The floodwaters could not recede quickly as flow into the sewers was not optimal, resulting in the local people breaking the sluice gate.
According to a number of residents, water had begun to recede, but not by much. The water level receded by only 30 centimeters after they broke the Rawa Babon dam sluice. The sluice had not been in operation for the past four months.
RW 008 head, M Deddy Dwi Harmanto, said that the floodwaters could not recede quickly as water at the dam was still high, thus the water in the conduits leading to the dam had nowhere to go.
The floods have resulted in several residents suffering from diarrhea and headaches. Personnel from a traveling public health center (puskesmas) were actively caring for the sick.
Rain has continued to fall in Jakarta for the past few days. In the last three days, there has been mid-to-heavy rainfall. On Saturday, for instance, the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) recorded rainfall of 88.5 millimeters.
BMKG’s head of climate change and air quality center, Dodo Gunawan, said that the potential for extreme or very extreme rain was relatively small as currently it was still the transitional season leading into the real rainy season. However, the impact of strong winds must be anticipated. Potentially, trees falling on a number of roads would be inevitable.
Source: Kompas
