Jakarta Underwater

Once again February rolls around and the heavens relentlessly piss down on the city of Jakarta. I am safely stashed here in the dry bitter cold of Guangzhou, but the rest of my family has been stranded in our house in Jakarta with no electricity or running water since last night. Fortunately my house is built high enough that the water can not enter the premises but the complex in which I live has been flooded. Worse yet is the surrounding neighborhood of Kelapa Gading that is underwater. Apparently the mall is closed because water has flowed into it and there is a neck deep flood in Macro Kelapa Gading. I do not know how the rest of the city is fairing off but if the rain does not let up things could get pretty ugly. I feel helpless that I am not at home to help my mom, my sister, and the 3 kids. The little buggers are having a field day though with all the excitement going around in the complex. For children these catastrophes are exciting!



I remember when I was a young teen in Jakarta getting all excited and looking forward to a flood during the rainy season. My cousin and I would wait until the streets were filled with water so we could go out and play football in the muck. When his mom came home she would get so pissed off at us and worried about sickness and the house flooding. Those issues never entered our young carefree minds. We never thought about the diseases we could contrast in that water nor the cost of repairing a home damaged in the floods. Here I am miles away from home worried about my kids, about if there is enough drinking water at home. Could the situation get unhygienic? I hope there is no more rain and that the water level can start to recede. The electricity needs to come on soon so they can sleep well at night or else at least be able to drive out o the neighborhood to a hotel or a friend’s house. I am lucky to have really good friends back home that have me covered but I still feel helpless not being able to rescue them. We tried to get a truck into the complex yesterday but the entrances were blocked off by vegetable sellers, how ridiculous is that. Yesterday I was worried that I was not growing up, and suddenly I realize that I might already have.