10,000 people displaced by Jakarta flood

Severe flooding following torrential rain has driven almost 10,000 people from their homes in the Indonesian capital, an official said Wednesday, with two people killed so far in the seasonal chaos.

National disaster management agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said 9,374 people had been evacuated to temporary shelters, while a child was among the two victims swept away in the floods Tuesday.

"Days of heavy downpours caused the rivers to overflow and triggered floods up to three metres (10 feet)," he told AFP, adding that rivers in the capital Jakarta had a low capacity to contain the monsoon rain.

Indonesia is regularly afflicted by deadly floods and landslides during its wet season, which lasts around half the year, and many in the capital live beside rivers that periodically overflow.

At least 11 people were killed and seven missing in November after flash floods triggered by heavy rain hit a village on Indonesia's Sulawesi island.