Two-thirds of the Indonesian capital Jakarta is under water and up to 350,000 people have been left homeless by severe floods that have also claimed 29 lives.

	Residents flee on rafts as others wait on roofs

Days of torrential downpours caused the rivers and canals that criss-cross the city to burst their banks in the worst floods to hit Jakarta since 40 people were killed in 2002.

Health ministry officials now fear an outbreak of disease could take hold. Residents have escaped their flooded homes on makeshift rafts or by wading through muddy and polluted water rather than wait for help to arrive.

Others are still trapped on the roofs of their houses and are refusing to leave their belongings.

Clean water supplies have been cut to about 500,000 people because the floods have put treatment plants out of action, one report claimed.

"We fear that diarrhoea and dysentery may break out, as well as illnesses spread by rats," an official told the BBC.

Helicopters dropped supplies to people stranded in the north of the city, while wealthier residents fled to luxury hotels. Hundreds of people also took shelter in graveyards and mosques. The floods have forced the closures of several main roads across Jakarta, while at least two hospitals had to move patients to upper floors. Electricity and water supplies remain cut in large areas of the city, and major rail lines and some roads have been closed. Most schools also stayed shut, as forecasters warned that more rain is on its way.

"This weather pattern will continue until at least the end of February," said Edison Gurning of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency.

The government is facing renewed criticism that it could have done more to prevent this disaster. Seasonal downpours cause dozens of landslides and flash floods each year in Indonesia, but rarely on this scale.