Viral: Video shows rain only falling on one house in South Jakarta, experts say phenomenon highly improbable

Photo: Video screengrab from Twitter/@febicil
Photo: Video screengrab from Twitter/@febicil

For a city used to high precipitation levels, one rain-related story in Jakarta has gotten people scratching their heads.

Recently, a video by Twitter user @febicil has gone viral showing what appears to be rain falling only on one house in Tebet, South Jakarta, while people flocked to witness the strange phenomenon.

https://twitter.com/febicil/status/901422413912522753

Muzakir, the owner of that 5×5 meters house, claims that the localized rain started falling on Saturday at around 6 pm and poured down until around midnight. He first thought it was a practical joke.

“I don’t know what kind of phenomenon it was, maybe natural. People came, took photos and uploaded them on social media. There were even people bathing in the water, including me, briefly,” he said, as quoted by Detik.

Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Information Center head Mulyono Prabowo is skeptical that this was a natural phenomenon.

“In the summer, the potential for localized rain like this would be easily disrupted by moving winds,” he said.

BMKG Spokesman Hery Tirto also said the phenomenon would be highly improbable.

“(Localized rain) usually occurs during transition period between seasons and between the afternoon and the evening. So don’t link (the story) to mystical explanations yet,” he said.

Damn, there goes our theory of reverse-pawang hujan (rain shaman) being behind this. Must be someone with a huge hose and a whole lot of free time, then.



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