Monsoon paralyzes Indonesian capital, floods presidential palace

Enny Nuraheni / Reuters

Women react as they flee from a flooded area in Jakarta, Indonesia on Jan. 17, 2013.

A man carries his son across a flooded area in the business district of Jakarta on Jan. 17, 2013.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (2nd left) and his Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa (left) inspecting the Presidential Palace after it was flooded in Jakarta on Jan. 17, 2013, hours before Bambang was due to welcome visiting Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Reuters reports — Heavy monsoonal rains triggered severe flooding in large swathes of the Indonesian capital Jakarta on Thursday, with many government offices and businesses forced to closed because staff could not get to work.

Weather officials warned the rains could get worse over the next few days and media reports said that thousands of people in Jakarta and its satellite cities had been forced to leave their homes because of the torrential downpours this week.

Rescue workers evacuate residents from a flooded area in Jakarta on Jan. 17, 2013.

Streets are flooded in Jakarta on Jan. 17, 2013. Floods regularly hit parts of Jakarta in the rainy season, but the inundation following an intense rain storm was especially widespread.

A driver and scooter are transported through a flooded street in Jakarta on Jan. 16, 2013.