Jakarta flooding

This item appears on page 18 of the February 2020 issue.

Heavy rains caused flooding in Jakarta, Indonesia, in late December, killing at least 21 people and displacing more than 62,000. More than 14 inches of rain fell on Dec. 31, the most rain ever measured in one day since records in the country began in 1996.

Jakarta, currently the capital of Indonesia, is considered one of the fastest-sinking cities in the world and is prone to yearly flooding. In August 2019, Indonesia’s president announced that the capital would be moved to a planned city to be built in eastern Borneo.