Floods paralyze Indonesian capital, heavy rains continue

Fergus Jensen and Rieka Rahadiana in Reuters: Heavy monsoon rain triggered severe flooding in large swathes of the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on Thursday, bringing the city to a halt with many government offices and businesses forced to close because staff could not get to work. At least 20,000 people were forced from their homes in the capital and weather officials warned the rain could get worse over the next few days.

"Rain will continue to fall in the greater Jakarta area ... the potential for flooding remains," a spokesman for the Meteorology Climatology Meteorology and Geophysics Agency told Reuters. He said rain was expected to remain heavy in mountains above Jakarta, often the source of floodwater.

Four people were reported to have been killed, according to the National Disaster Prevention Agency, which urged residents to stay at home to reduce traffic congestion on blocked roads. Torrential rain was reported across much of the country, including the main island of Java and heavily agricultural area of southern Sumatra....

From a 2007 flood in Jakarta, shot by gajah mada, Wikimedia Commons via Flickr, under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license