High tide floods coastal subdistrict

JAKARTA (Jakarta Post): The combination of a high tide and high rainfall Sunday inundated hundreds of houses in Penjaringan subdistrict, North Jakarta.

Subdistrict head Budi Santoso said his staff had prepared two inflatable boats for possible evacuation, and established a coordinating center with a communal kitchen in the subdistrict offices.

"We estimate that our area will continue to be flooded until Monday," he was quoted as saying by the Tempointeraktif news portal.

Jakarta officials warned last week that high tides in December threatened to flood coastal areas in the city, following an alert from the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

The head of the Jakarta Crisis Center, Heru Joko Santoso, said officials were warning that Penjaringan and Pluit subdistricts in North Jakarta would be threatened by high tides between Dec. 8 and 12, and Dec. 20 and 25. -- JP