The wet season means sleepless nights for some residents in high-end Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, for fear of floods recurring overnight in the neighborhood.

But moving is not a option. Yet.

Kelapa Gading resident since 1983, Tedjasaputra, said Monday he hadn't had a good night's sleep for days.

"When it rains, I prefer to stay awake so I can check the water level in the gutter in front of my home every hour," the 62-year-old retired physician told The Jakarta Post.

Tedjasaputra, whose house was inundated with floodwater one-meter-deep in 2002 and water 30-centimeters-deep in the February flood last year, is dreading the possibility the five-year periodic flood might turn into an annual episode.

He said the main street of his housing cluster, on Jl. Cengkir Raya, was two weeks ago inundated with water as high as 10 centimeters at 2 a.m. after some four hours of non-stop rain.

However, the flood mitigation coordinator in East Kelapa Gading sub-district, Nadjeri Basyr, said there had been no streets inundated with rainwater in the past weeks.

Kelapa Gading district head Ahid Wahyudin mentioned three related factors that caused flooding in the area; the overflowing of nearby Sunter River, heavy rain in the upstream areas, like Bogor, and ocean tides.

"Currently, conditions are relatively safe," Wahyudin said.

"In the past few weeks of heavy rains, no street has been inundated with water. But we continue to check the height of the water in the Katulampa sluice gate in Bogor and routinely dredge water around the neighborhood."

All Tedjasaputra can do now to anticipate floodwaters is arrange bricks and pieces of wood as temporary stands for his furniture on the first floor.

Tedjasaputra is one of many residents battling the annual flooding of the area.

"I have started to move my family's valuables upstairs," said 51-year-old Ida, who has lived in Kelapa Gading since 1981. Last year, ankle-deep floodwaters entered her home.

A Kelapa Gading resident for the last six years, Haryanto, 49, has also been busy moving his electronic appliances upstairs and building temporary brick platforms for his furniture.

Haryanto's home experienced a 40-centimeter-high flood last year, even after he had elevated the floor to 60 centimeters above the street level. Many of his neighbors are now also elevating the floors of their homes in anticipation of floodwaters.

Haryanto, who is unable to move out and leave the area due to financial reasons, said: "I thought of moving to another cluster still inside the Kelapa Gading compound that is on higher ground. But it is too costly."

He added the price of a new higher-ground cluster home could be 40 to 50 percent more expensive than his current home.

"It's impossible to get a new house at the same price as my current one."

It is estimated the price of land in the elite residential area is around Rp 5 million per square meter.

Haryanto, however, said he did not want to move out of the elite housing area, as his children went to school nearby.

Both Tedjasaputra and Haryanto also said they had found church and sporting communities that were hard to leave behind, not to mention comprehensive social and commercial facilities in the compound.