30,000 displaced by floods in Jakarta

Indonesians wade through a flooded area in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014. Seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have caused widespread flooding across much of Indonesia. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

JAKARTA: More than 30,000 Indonesians have fled their homes in the capital due to flooding that has left five dead, an official said, with people using rubber dinghies and wading through waist-deep water to reach safer ground.

Many parts of Jakarta were under murky, brown water, while on the vast archipelago’s northern Sulawesi island the death toll from flash floods and landslides rose to 24.