Severe flooding hit Indonesia's capital as residents were celebrating the New Year's, killing at least nine people, displacing thousands and forcing the closure of a domestic airport.
Tens of thousands of revelers in Jakarta were soaked by torrential rains as they waited for New Year's Eve fireworks.
Jakarta Gov. Anies Baswedan told reporters after conducting an aerial survey over the flooded city that as much as 370 millimeters of rainfall -- more than three times the average amount -- was recorded in Jakarta and West Java's hilly areas during the New Year's Eve, resulting in the Ciliwung and Cisadane rivers overflowing.
Television footage and photos released by the agency showed dozens of cars floating in muddy waters while soldiers and rescuers in rubber boats were struggling to evacuate children and the elderly who were holding out on the roofs of their squalid houses.
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