Update on the flooding

Still no sign of flooding in our immediate neighborhood, but just a mile or so down the road is some of the worst flooding in the city. Frisbee practice was canceled on Sunday due to the flooding, so we donated what we would have paid for the field rental to victims of the flooding in a neighborhood where a lot of the kids we play frisbee with are from. In the afternoon Haviva and I went with one of the frisbee organizers to deliver some medical supplies and food that he had bought with the money.

The video is from a high spot on Jalan Casablanca, the road we live on. Our building is the one poking up from the trees with the funny looking roof. In the other direction is a low area called Kampung Melayu that is completely filled with water. We toured the area with one of the locals that we play frisbee with. Pictures can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/howieandhaviva/JakartaFlooding

The government is now reporting that the flooding has left some 400,000 people homeless. We were told that the area we visited would take about 3 days to drain and a couple of weeks to clean before people could move back into their homes, but forecasters are saying that they expect heavy rains over the next two weeks so it may get worse before it gets better. Many people displaced by the flooding are staying in shelters set up in mosques and schools. The neighborhood we visited had a number of aid stations set up by local civic, religious and political groups and I’ve got to say that it seemed pretty well organized considering where we are and what’s going on.

As bad as the situation is a mile away from us, we are remarkably unaffected. We’re just lucky to live on high ground. The shelves at the grocery stores near us are getting a little bare, but we are able to get everything we need. The roads from our apartment to the city center were open and clean on Sunday and we were able to get downtown without a problem.