The Sadness of Ciracas Residents: All Lebaran Cakes Float Away Due to Flooding

The atmosphere of Eid, usually warm and full of togetherness, turned into panic for residents of RW 03 in Ciracas, East Jakarta. This is what Slamet (62) felt, who did not expect the rain that started falling in the afternoon to gradually cause flooding.

He said the Eid situation at his home initially felt normal. The rain fell lightly, accompanied by wind, then stopped, and came again.

“The rain was initially light for a long time, light, wind, light, wind. Gradually, water from there flowed, the road flowed. The rain continued until it poured, finally it didn’t take long for the flood, it was somewhat normal for the residents,” he said when met on Sunday (22/3/2026).

“Gradually, whether it was a release or what from Depok, it all gushed out, everything was submerged, all the items inside (the house) were soaked,” he continued.

Slamet said the water kept rising until it reached his neck inside the house. Meanwhile, outside the area, it also kept rising.

At that time, Slamet and his family did not have time to save the items in their home from the flood. As a result, mattresses, furniture, and snacks prepared for Eid were submerged.

“All these mattresses have been affected. The Eid cakes are all floating,” he said.

That night, Slamet and his family were forced to evacuate to the mosque. Even though he said some relatives had come before the flood arrived.

“Family that had been there since morning. The rain started in the afternoon or around 2 pm until the flood,” he said.

According to Slamet, this flood is the worst. Usually, rain only causes light puddles on the road.

“This is the worst, so it’s very unpleasant,” he said.

Slamet hopes the government can take steps to prevent it in the future. One of them is by strengthening and raising the river embankments so that the water does not overflow into settlements again.

“The hope is for mutual cooperation to handle the river, raise the edges of the riverbank, so that the river water doesn’t spill,” he hoped.

For information, the flood inundated nine neighbourhood units (RW) in the Ciracas Subdistrict, East Jakarta. The flood occurred due to the overflow of the Cipinang River.

The Ciracas Subdistrict Head, Panangaran Ritonga, said the flood occurred after rain with quite high intensity. The rain hit the area from 17:00 to 19:00 WIB on Saturday (21/3/2026).

“The rain started in the afternoon. The water volume from the upstream area in Cimanggis, Depok, was quite large, causing the Cipinang River to overflow,” said Panangaran, quoted by Antara on Sunday (22/3).

Panangaran mentioned that the water began to overflow from the Cipinang River around 18:30 WIB. Usually, puddles in the area can recede in about two hours.

However, in this incident, the water had not receded even after more than three hours since overflowing. “Usually it recedes in two hours, but until 22:00 WIB the water still hasn’t receded, the flood is really persistent,” he said.

According to him, the reason the puddles did not recede is suspected to be influenced by the high discharge of incoming water from the upstream area and the river’s capacity unable to accommodate the water volume.

His side, along with related parties, is still continuously monitoring the situation in the field, especially in areas along the Cipinang River.

“We urge residents to remain alert to the potential for follow-up flooding, given that rainfall is still likely to occur,” said Panangaran.