Christmas Day, DKI Provincial Government Again Modified Weather

(Photo: dock. DKI Jakarta BPBD)

JAKARTA - The DKI Provincial Government is again carrying out the third phase of the weather modification operation (OMC) right on Christmas Day 2024, December 25. This is done to anticipate the impact of rain during the Christmas and New Year 2025 periods.

"This operation aims to minimize the risk of flooding due to high rainfall in the Jakarta area," said Head of the DKI Jakarta Regional Disaster Management Agency (BPBD) Isnawa Adji in his statement, Wednesday, December 25.

This weather modification was carried out with two Britneyn Norman BN2T - PK WMN aircraft, each with 800 kilograms of NaCl.

Isnawa hopes that the third phase of OMC will also manage to avoid inundation in the Jakarta area and its surroundings.

"According to BMKG predictions, rain with light to moderate intensity will occur in the Jabodetabek area on Christmas Day. However, there is also the potential for extreme weather to be watched out for," he explained.

Previously, the DKI Provincial Government had held OMC on December 7-9 and December 12-15, 2024. The budget disbursed for the two OMC stages was IDR 3.6 billion.

Acting Governor of DKI Jakarta Teguh Setyabudi ensured that the DKI Provincial Government would again carry out weather modification operations in order to reduce the high rainfall in Jakarta during the change.

This is because the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has issued an early warning of extreme weather at the end of 2024 and early 2025. Jakarta is predicted to experience another large flood that usually hits once every five years.

The last five-year flood occurred in early 2020, where the rainfall at that time reached 377 mm per day or three times greater than the capacity of the drainage system in Jakarta.

"The head of BMKG has warned us that all extreme weather has occurred in various parts of Indonesia, including in DKI Jakarta. It is a special flood problem, this is what Jakarta is facing," said Teguh at DKI Jakarta City Hall, Monday, December 23.