Residents of Indonesia's capital who had been forced into shelters by widespread flooding have begun returning to their homes as the waters started to recede, though the death toll from the disaster jumped to 30.
Monsoon rains and rising rivers submerged at least 182 neighbourhoods in greater Jakarta starting on Wednesday and caused landslides in the Bogor and Depok districts on the city's outskirts.
Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan said much of the water had receded by Thursday evening and the number of displaced people at temporary shelters had fallen to about 5,000 from 19,000.
Officials had earlier said 35,000 people were in shelters across the greater metropolitan area.
An Indonesian man feeds his kittens at a flooded area in Ciledug, Tanggerang, Banten, Indonesia. Source: EPA
Those returning to their homes found streets covered in mud and debris. Cars that had been parked in driveways were swept away, landing upside down in parks or piled up in narrow alleys.
Authorities took advantage of the receding waters to clear away mud and remove piles of wet rubbish from the streets. Electricity was restored to tens of thousands of residences and businesses.
At their peak, the floods had inundated thousands of homes and buildings, forced authorities to cut off electricity and water and paralysed transport networks, National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Agus Wibowo said.
Floodwaters reached as high as 2.5m in places. Wibowo said the number of people killed in the disaster had climbed to 30.
It was the worst flooding since 2013, when 47 people were killed after Jakarta was inundated by monsoon rains.
Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusumah domestic airport reopened on Thursday after operations were suspended when floodwater submerged its runway, said Muhammad Awaluddin, the president director of PT Angkasa Pura II, the airport's operator.
Nearly 20,000 passengers had been affected by the closure.
In Jakarta's satellite cities of Bekasi and Tangerang, where rivers had burst their banks, large areas remain inundated.
A resident sits inside a styrofoam box as he wades through a flooded area in Jakarta, Indonesia. Source: EPA
Residents of Bekasi waded through water up to their necks or floated on makeshift rafts carrying clothes and other salvaged possessions.
Some scrambled on to roofs to await rescue from soldiers and emergency workers in rubber dinghies.
Social affairs minister Juliari Peter Batubara said the government dispatched medical teams and rubber rafts to the worst-hit areas, while rescuers in boats delivered instant noodles and rice to those who chose to stay on the upper floors of their homes.
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