Jakarta paralysed by days of crippling floods

(2 Feb 2002) 1. Flooded Jakarta city streets 2. Exterior shots of flooded Recency Hotel 3. Various of American tourists being ferried across flood waters in large blue bins by hotel staff 4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Red White, Houston Texas (Describing condition inside the hotel) "Very calm, not very many people left. No lights, and of course, no food, and no reason to stay, basically." 5. Various of American tourists packing their luggage into taxis 6. Group of American tourists standing by luggage -- natsot: "We Houston guys are ready to go!" 7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Randy Hull, Houston, Texas "It's flooded! There's no electricity, no power, no water." (Q - And how long has it been like that?) "Uh, since about seven o'clock this morning, eight o'clock?" 8. Flooded car, only roof showing 9. Various of local people outside their homes in flooded residential area of Jakarta 10. Children splashing in flooded street 11. Various of homes flooded in residential neighbourhood 12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Angela Black, Jakarta resident (originally from Essex, England) "Well as you can see the whole road, the whole street, is flooded. Um, it's gone down pretty much since last night. I woke at three o'clock in the morning and there was three foot of water in my house, so I woke up with a bit of a splash! Yeah, loads of stuff ruined, evrybody's tried to save what they can but it's been pretty dire." 13. Various of people left homeless by the flooding setting up their own makeshift living areas under tents and canopies. 14. Women cooking rice in communal pots STORYLINE: After a week of torrential rains and devastating floods, rising waters and failing utilities forced thousands of Indonesians to move into makeshift shelters in the streets as the city came to a standstill on Saturday. In areas that were still relatively dry, long queues formed at shops and supermarkets as many feared that they would be unable to buy goods elsewhere because so many roads were submerged. Shops reported running out of staples and produce because of delivery problems caused by the flooding. The government is facing harsh criticism as water levels, which reached 2.5 meters (8 feet) at the peak of the floods, forced thousands to evacuate their homes. At least 40 people have been killed across Indonesia, media reports said. With a heavy downpour on Friday night, the knee-deep waters had spread to the center of the city by the following morning, making some parts of the downtown area completely inaccessible. Foreign tourists were evacuated from one of Jakarta's most luxurious hotels, the five-star Regent, when its electricity and fresh water supplies were cut off. Even leaving Jakarta became a struggle as knee-deep waters made it difficult for cars to negotiate a section of the toll road linking the city to its main international airport. The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency warned that heavy rainfall was likely to continue until the end of February, when the rainy season begins to subside. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...