JAKARTA, Indonesia - An official says flooding from torrential rain killed three children and left nearly 1,500 people homeless in Indonesia's capital.
Roads across much of the sprawling metropolis were submerged Friday, bringing traffic to a near standstill and forcing many people, including the country's president, to abandon their vehicles.
Poor visibility also temporarily shut down the main international airport on Friday.
The head of Indonesia's health department crisis centre says three children drowned while playing in swollen rivers.
He says another 1,463 people had been displaced by the floods.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was forced to abandon his bulletproof Mercedes-Benz Sedan about two kilometers from his palace over fears it would get stuck in the flood. He jumped into one of his secret service's SUVs, leaving his motorcade behind.
Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, where tens of millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile plains, and Jakarta is rarely immune.
Last year, more than 40 people were killed in the city of 12 million after rivers burst their banks. Critics said rampant overdevelopment, poor city planning and clogged drainage canals were partly to blame.
Source: The Canadian Press
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