Technicians prepare a Garuda Indonesia aircraft for a test flight at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten. - Antara
JAKARTA: Heavy rainfall on Tuesday (Jan 28) evening have raised water levels by between 30 and 100cm across Tangerang city and regency in Banten, inundating homes in at least five districts as well as Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
The regency administration had begun evacuating around 680 families from the districts of Pasar Kemis, Rajeg, Sepatan, Teluknaga and Kosambi using inflatable rubber boats, Antara reported on Wednesday morning.
“We took immediate action last night and evacuated residents affected by flooding to disaster coordination posts,” acting Tangerang mayor Nurdin said on Wednesday, as quoted by Antara. He also urged the public to remain vigilant and promptly report any emergencies or disasters.
“Our team will remain on standby and be ready to receive reports, whether through call centre or LAKSA, which are operating nonstop, 24-7,” Nurdin said.
Flooding also temporarily affected operations at Soekarno-Hatta, which diverted at least 23 flights to other airports for safety reasons. Airport train operator PT Kereta Commuter Indonesia (KCI) reported disruption on its Tangerang lines on Tuesday night, Kompas.com reported, but the service resumed normal operations on Wednesday morning.
Some sections of roads to the airport were still closed on Wednesday due to flooding, including the northern stretch of the Jakarta Outer Ring Road (JORR) headed to Kosambi.
“We are handling the situation right now,” said airport spokesperson M. Holik Muardi, underlining that the JORR was not the main access road to Soekarno-Hatta. He added that airport operations had returned to normal. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
