Nearly 6,000 people were evacuated from parts of Indonesia's capital Jakarta on Tuesday (10 February) after floods caused by torrential rain inundated residential and business districts in the city, according to the country's national disaster mitigation agency.

In a commercial area in northern Jakarta, one of the worst hit areas, malls and shops were closed while people were moved from their homes using rubber boats or horse-drawn carriages.

Police and local government officials helped people by using trucks and four-wheel drive vehicles to transport residents to surrounding commercial areas and higher ground. Some families moved to dry compounds at a local hospital.

Many parts of Indonesia are regularly inundated during the annual rainy season, bringing already strained transport systems to a halt, while Jakarta tends to experience annual flooding due to a poor underground sewage system and overflowing, clogged canals.

Local community leader Muhammad Haris said residents were waiting for changes to be made to help those subjected to regular flooding experienced up to twice a month.

The National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPB) said it had set up at least 14 evacuation centres for victims of the floods.

The rain is expected to continue for the next few days, according to the Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG), which could see the number of evacuees increase.

Related