Jakarta flooded by high tides

The flooding was the result of a high tide cycle that occurs once every 18 years or so, when the sun and moon are in direct alignment and are closest to the earth.

A Jakarta Public Works Agency official said they expect a 2.06-metre to 2.09-metre water rise later on Wednesday adding that the high tide is expected to last until June 7.

"We have prepared emergency kitchens and tents since June 2, but people still want to stay in their homes," Maman Suparman, the section head of water management at the Jakarta Public Works Agency, told Reuters.

Residents in Muara Baru village hitched up their trousers and carried their slippers and shoes as they waded through the flood waters, while trucks and cars drove through the flooded streets easily.

"The flood waters entered my house last night. In the house it reached my calf, and outside it is even worse, up to an adult's thigh," Nursanti, 28, who lives in Muara Baru area near the coast in northern Jakarta, told Reuters.

Authorities in the capital, home to more than 10 million people, had prepared for the unusually high tides with sand bags and wire netting filled with stones following a warning by the World Bank.

Tide waters swamped areas near the coast for a few hours overnight, leaving hundreds of people stranded in their homes. But the main highway leading to the airport, which has suffered from flooding on previous occasions, was not affected.