Indonesia faces greater flood risk this wet season, says weather agency

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JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia is expected to experience a longer-than-usual peak period during its wet season this year, bringing a higher risk of floods and extreme rainfall in many areas of the Southeast Asian country, its weather agency forecast on Friday.

The wet season in the archipelago of over 17,000 islands starts this month and ends in April 2026, Indonesia Meteorology and Geophysics Agency head Dwikorita Karnawati said in a news conference.

The peak wet season will begin in November and December this year for Sumatera and Borneo islands, she said, while Java, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua islands will experience the peak season from January to February 2026.

“We must be cautious because the peak of the wet season is quite long and happens in almost all areas in Indonesia,” she said.

“The risk of floods is high between November this year and February next year,” said Guswanto, another official at the agency.

The agency also warned of extreme rainfall in a short period of time. Dwikorita said certain areas could see the equivalent of a month’s rainfall in a single day.

The holiday island of Bali had experienced the equivalent of a month’s rainfall in two days over the last few days, the agency said.

Heavy rains on Tuesday and Wednesday caused floods in Bali’s capital Denpasar and six other regions, killing 18 people and forcing the evacuation of more than 500 people.

“We must anticipate what will happen in the peak of wet season because of what happened in Bali” before the peak, Dwikorita said.

The weather agency had previously predicted a shorter-than-expected dry season this year due to higher-than-normal precipitation.

(Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Editing by Aidan Lewis)