Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta faced extensive flooding on Tuesday after hours of torrential rain battered the city, bringing daily life to a complete halt. According to reports, several cars were stranded and thousands of homes were inundated.
Agence France-Presse reported that people were forced to abandon their houses as water up to 1.5 metres deep deluged parts of the city. However, officials are unable to give an exact number of people affected and are yet to receive any reports of injuries or deaths.
People took to social media to post pictures of flooding. People were seen wading through murky brown water and cars partially submerged in major roads in the megacity, which has a population of 10 million.
According to disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, the flooding happened as Jakarta's drains were unable to cope with the heavy rainfall. The storm also made the rivers swell up and they eventually burst their banks.
Indonesia is prone to flooding in the rainy seasons and it is the city's numerous riverside communities that get affected the most. In 2013, the city suffered one of the most devastating floods in history which killed 20 people and displaced at least another 30,000.
