JAKARTA - INDONESIA has patched up sea defences after flooding linked to high tides caused chaos in parts of Jakarta and cut a key road to the capital's international airport, a police officer said on Tuesday.
Flood waters reached 1.5 metres in two districts of North Jakarta on Monday, submerging parts of the toll road that links the airport, media reports said.
Residents in affected areas were evacuated to mosques and homes of relatives after hundreds of houses were inundated.
A police chief in one of the worst-affected districts said the tide had receded and the airport road had been drained after one sea barrier burst on Monday and after another one had been left in state of disrepair for days.
'The sea walls were immediately fixed. I checked this morning, we've fortified the walls using sand sacks and we have pumps ready to help ease flooding, should the tide rise again,' subdistrict police chief Hirbak Wahyu Setiawan said by telephone.
An official of the toll road operator said that extra pumps were on standby on the most vulnerable part of flood-prone toll road.
Indonesia suffers regular flooding, usually in the rainy season, although also from high tides in areas near the coast and in low-lying districts. -- REUTERS
