Floods During Sahur: Periuk Damai Residential Area Submerged, Residents Shelter on Roofs

Tangerang — Dense brown water submerged almost the entire Periuk Damai residential area in Periuk District, Tangerang City, from early Sunday 9 March 2026.

Rows of houses that are usually filled with residents’ activities now only show their roofs. Walls, windows, and house fences are no longer visible as floodwater reaches five metres in depth.

Occasionally, rubber boats pass among the submerged houses, carrying evacuated residents or those returning briefly to retrieve important remaining belongings.

On several house roofs, mattresses, plastic chairs, and buckets are stacked. This is done as a last resort by residents to save their belongings from the flood.

Heri, 45, a resident of Periuk Damai residential area, said the water came without warning and rose rapidly in a short time.

“We were performing sahur at the time when water suddenly arrived in high volumes. All the residents were shocked,” Heri told Kompas.com at the location on Monday 9 March 2026.

He suspected the flooding occurred after an embankment in the surrounding area, which had previously been repaired, breached. As a result, water quickly inundated the residential area, including his house.

In a short time, the first floor of Heri’s house was submerged.

“Almost one entire floor was submerged. My house has two floors, and one floor was completely inundated,” he said.

Household furnishings and electrical items such as appliances could not be saved in time, and eventually mattresses, cabinets, chairs, refrigerators and televisions were submerged by the flood.

Some buildings are only visible by their roofs. Meanwhile, in houses with two storeys, residents chose to remain on the upper floor whilst waiting for the water to recede.

When Kompas.com traversed the area using a rubber boat belonging to Polairud, several residents were seen standing on the second-floor balconies of their houses.

There were also those sheltering on the roof tiles whilst watching boats passing through the floodwater.