Pluit Floodwaters Receding

Jakarta, Jan 21 (ANTARA) - The flood in Pluit, Penjaringan, North Jakarta, is gradually subsiding, with floodwaters reaching a height of up to 30 cm, due to reduced rainfall in Jakarta. "The floodwaters have begun receding gradually in Pluit, Jakarta, because there has been no downpour here in recent days. The floodwater level is between 20 cm and 30 cm," National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) head Syamsul Maarif said here on Monday. However, he urged all Jakartans to remain on the alert, because the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has predicted that there would be heavy rainfall next week. "The reduction in rainfall over the past two days has caused river water levels to decline, while the alert status was lowered to between level III and IV. This shows that Jakarta is relatively safe from the threat of flooding," Maarif noted. On Monday afternoon, at about 2pm, the alert status for some rivers in and around Jakarta, such as Angke Hulu, Pesanggrahan and Krukut Hulu, was lowered to level IV, he added. This week, Thursday and Saturday are likely to see high sea tides reaching almost up to a metre between 9.09 am and 9.46 am. On Monday, sea tides reached 0.94 metres at 8.10 am. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the tides are expected to rise to a height of up to 0.97 metres and 0.99 metres, respectively. And from Sunday onwards, until the end of January, the tides are predicted to remain within a height of 1 metre, Maarif stated. "Some places, such as Pluit, Penjaringan, Muara Angke and other coastal areas, have remained flooded either due to the influence of the tides or because the floodwaters from previous floods have not been able to flow into the sea," he explained. Meanwhile, Pluit village head Tahta said the floodwaters had lowered from 1.5-2 metres to 50 centimetres. However, there is still a lot of flooding in RW 04, 05, 06, 07, 08 and 09, he pointed out. Evacuation efforts are still ongoing, especially at Laguna Apartment, and assistance has continued to come from the government and volunteers.