Four dead after Indonesian capital hit by flooding

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Jakarta, Jan 1 (AFP/APP):Four people died as Indonesia’s capital was hit by flooding, a disaster agency official said Wednesday, while local media reported landslides sparked by torrential rain on New Year’s Eve had killed several more residents.

Electricity was switched off in hundreds of waterlogged neighbourhoods across Jakarta, home to about 30 million, with some train lines and one of the city’s airports also shut. A 16-year-old was electrocuted by a power line, while three more people died of hypothermia, said Jakarta disaster management agency head Subejo.

“We’re hoping that the floodwaters will recede, but if the rain keeps up it’ll continue,” said the official, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. Among the victims was an elderly couple trapped inside their home in a district where floodwaters reached as high as four metres (13 feet) after a river burst its banks.

Local media reports said three more people were killed after the Tuesday evening downpour triggered landslides in Cinere on the southern edge of the city. Those deaths could not be immediately confirmed, and police said they were still investigating. “We have shut down power (in many areas) to avoid more electrical shocks,” Ikhsan Asaad, an official at state firm PLN, told AFP.

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