February 06, 2007	Tuesday	Muharram 17, 1428

JAKARTA, Feb 5: Indonesian rescuers, police and troops in inflatable boats on Monday helped evacuate Jakarta residents stranded in severe floods that have killed 29, as the number left homeless approached 350,000.

Tens of thousands of houses have been inundated after rivers and canals criss-crossing Jakarta burst their banks following days of torrential downpours in the city and the adjoining towns of Tangerang and Bekasi.

Health ministry officials put the number of displaced at nearly 340,000.

The floods are the worst to hit Jakarta since 2002, when 40 people were killed, and meteorologists have predicted the heavy rain will continue.

“The focus today (Monday) remains the evacuation of people from flooded areas in Jakarta, Tangerang and Bekasi,” said Mursid, an officer in charge at the National Disaster Mitigation Coordinating Centre.

Many residents have escaped their flooded homes on makeshift rafts or by wading through the waist-high muddy and polluted waters rather than wait for help to arrive.

Others remained trapped on the roofs of their houses or were refusing to leave, preferring to stay with their relatives or to guard their belongings despite the lack of drinking water and electricity.

Clean water supplies have been cut to about 500,000 people due to the floods which have put treatment plants out of action, the Kompas daily said, quoting the city's two water companies.

Jakarta governor Sutiyoso appealed to residents to leave their flooded homes for their own safety and to ease the distribution of relief supplies.

“Do not hesitate to leave areas which we deem as being on top alert and which urgently have to be evacuated,” he told ElShinta radio.

“If you refuse to be evacuated, it will only endanger yourself and it is also very difficult to push relief door-to-door.” Police reported 29 dead while health ministry officials said they had no report of the new victims to change their figures of 18 killed and two missing.

Television stations showed footage of inundated areas around the capital, mainly along the Ciliwung, Pesangrahan and Krukut rivers, with people being evacuated from their roofs or the second floors of their homes.

Members of the Indonesian Red Cross and other volunteers were delivering food to thousands of people.—AFP