Deadly flooding follows persistent rains in Indonesia
Thousands of people were forced to take shelter after torrential rain and flooding inundated the city of Lhoksukon, Indonesia, on Oct. 6, leaving many streets submerged underwater.
Torrential and relentless rainfall swamped portions of Indonesia this week, sending floodwaters into neighborhoods throughout the country and wreaking havoc in the process.
Three schoolchildren were killed as a result of the flooding on Thursday when their schoolhouse wall crumbled, according to Reuters. The collapse of the school wall, which was located in the town of Pondok Labu, South Jakarta, on the southern side of Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, left another student injured.
In addition to the structure of the school suffering damage, there were also reports of tables and chairs sitting in puddles after receding from waist-height water levels.
"Slow-moving downpours continually developed and sat across portions of western Java since the middle of the week. While rain amounts nearing 3 inches (75 mm) have been measured in parts of the city, locally heavier rain could have sparked the flooding," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Adam Douty.
Police Chief Commissioner Kompol Multazam, head of the Cilandak Police Sector, said the wall collapse was likely due to the pressure of floodwaters and which could have been made worse as the result of poor drainage.
Douty noted that heavy downpours like this, when several inches of rain fell in just a few hours, are typical in tropical climates such as Indonesia.
Children wade through floodwaters in the town of Lhoksukon Thursday, October 6, following heavy rain across the region (AFP).
The Krukut River is located near the school, and it began to overflow on Tuesday afternoon following a deluge of heavy rain.
As the nearby river continued to burst its banks throughout the week, water began to overflow onto the roads of South Jakarta on Thursday, making them impassible. More than 250 people were forced to evacuate their homes.
AFP reported that water suction vehicles were being used to remove the water from certain locations across the capital.
The island of Java, which is where the city of Jakarta is located, is home to more than 145 million people and is the most populated island in the world.
"While rainfall is not expected to be as heavy the next couple of days, additional daily downpours could lead to further localized flooding in and around Jakarta," Douty warned.
Heavy rains have also impacted other parts of Indonesia, a country that is made up of a total of more than 17,000 islands.
On Sumatra, the large island located to the northwest of Java, the town of Lhokseumawe on the northern tip was inundated with heavy rains this week.
The town of Lhokseumawe was riddled with floodwaters, following heavy rainfall, on Thursday, October 6 (AFP).
Drone footage showed waist-high water filling entire neighborhoods on Thursday. It's estimated that thousands of people were displaced by the floodwaters.
Despite the influx of tropical moisture into Indonesia, given its proximity to warm waters near the equator year-round, this relentless rain was not a part of an organized tropical system.
An astounding nine named tropical systems strengthened in the Western Pacific Ocean during the month of September, including the latest typhoon, Roke. So far, no new tropical systems have formed in the basin in the month of October.
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