Jakarta: Torrential rains in March 2025 led to severe flooding in Jakarta, Indonesia, affecting the city and its surrounding areas. This extreme weather event claimed the lives of at least nine individuals and displaced 90,000 residents. The flooding served as a stark reminder of a similar disaster in 2020, which resulted in 60 fatalities in Jakarta. Social media was inundated with videos capturing the disaster, rescue operations, and first responders' efforts to manage the crisis. Videos showed emergency personnel using boats for rescue missions and firetrucks to redirect excess water into rivers.
According to Global Voices, similar extreme weather events have been seen in other parts of Southeast Asia. In Manila, Philippines, phenomenal rainfall in August resulted in flooding equivalent to five days' worth of rain in just one hour. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, experienced over a meter of water on its streets this September due to heavy thunderstorms, causing widespread traffic issues and forcing residents to abandon vehicles and navigate flooded roads on foot. These incidents highlight the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in Southeast Asia, which exacerbate urban flooding—a chronic issue in many of the region's sprawling megacities due to outdated urban planning and low-lying coastal locations.
Urban flooding is also a significant issue in China, with 641 of its largest cities regularly affected, particularly those on the eastern and southern coast. To address this, China incorporated the concept of sponge cities into its national policy in 2013. This initiative, developed by urban architect Yu Kongjian, focuses on enhancing cities' rainwater storage capacity, contrasting with conventional methods that prioritize rapid drainage through engineered infrastructure. Yu's approach aims to restore natural water systems, allowing land to absorb rainwater and mitigate flooding.
Yu's sponge city model has inspired Southeast Asian countries to adopt similar strategies. The concept is seen as particularly effective in flood-prone regions like Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Indonesia. In Bangkok, Thailand, Yu's team applied the sponge city concept by transforming a former tobacco factory site into Benjakitti Forest Park, which successfully resisted flooding during a major rainfall event in 2022, while the rest of Bangkok was inundated.
Despite its potential, the sponge city concept faces challenges and controversies. Its implementation is often limited to small-scale projects, and scaling up requires extensive political coordination. Moreover, critics argue that the model may not withstand record-breaking rainstorms, highlighting the need for comprehensive drainage systems and disaster preparedness plans.
The high cost of developing sponge city infrastructure poses additional challenges, particularly in densely populated areas like Jakarta. However, Indonesia plans to incorporate the sponge city concept in its new capital, Nusantara, in East Kalimantan. The city aims to be the world's most sustainable, with features like open spaces for rainwater retention, porous road surfaces, and green rooftops. Yet, the project faces budget constraints, raising concerns about its timely completion.