After Deadly Floods, Bali Residents Begin Rebuilding as Rivers Reach Crisis Point

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After Deadly Floods, Bali Residents Begin Rebuilding as Rivers Reach Crisis Point
Sopian Hadi
September 15, 2025 | 8:55 pm
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Protestant congregants hold a prayer service in Badung, Bali, on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, for three family members still missing after floods destroyed their home. (ANTARA FOTO/Nyoman Hendra Wibowo)
Protestant congregants hold a prayer service in Badung, Bali, on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, for three family members still missing after floods destroyed their home. (ANTARA FOTO/Nyoman Hendra Wibowo)
Denpasar. A week after devastating floods tore through Bali’s capital and surrounding districts, residents are struggling to rebuild their lives as authorities grapple with the deeper environmental crises that magnified the disaster.

The floods, triggered by torrential rains on Sept. 9, left at least 18 people dead and four others missing, according to Bali’s disaster agency. The deluge swamped neighborhoods, clogged streets with mud and trash, and forced children to return to school without uniforms or books washed away by the waters.

On Monday, soldiers joined sanitation workers in Denpasar to clear debris from main roads such as Jalan Bukit Tunggal. Heavy machinery and dozens of trucks hauled away waste while firefighters sprayed streets to make them usable again. “Today we deployed 100 personnel and cleared about 20 truckloads of waste,” Ida Idewa Agung Hadisaputra, commander of Bali’s 163rd Military District, said. “Now we are focusing on removing the mud so vehicles can use the road again.”

The disaster also disrupted education. At SD Negeri 4 Dauh Puri Elementary School, 43 students lost school supplies and uniforms when their homes were inundated. Acting principal Tujuh Belas Atiningsih said teachers are considering shifting to online learning if heavy rains return. “Many of our students no longer have uniforms or books,” she said. “We understand their situation and will keep supporting them.”

Search teams continue to look for the missing. On Monday, rescuers recovered the decomposed body of a man trapped in garbage piles in Denpasar, raising the official death toll to 18.

Beyond the human toll, the floods have sharpened focus on Bali’s fragile ecosystems. Indonesia’s Environment Ministry (KLH) said it has launched an evaluation of the island’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (KLHS) following the disaster, particularly in the Ayung River basin, where forest cover has been reduced to just 3 percent of the watershed area.

“Extreme rainfall on Sept. 9 reached 245 millimeters in a single day, equivalent to 121 million cubic meters of water flowing into the Ayung watershed, which is already in critical condition,” said Rasio Ridho Sani, deputy for pollution and environmental damage control. “We are pushing for an evaluation of Bali’s KLHS to address the carrying capacity and resilience of its ecosystems.”

Environment Minister Hanif Faisol Nurofiq has instructed the provincial and local governments to rehabilitate degraded land in the Ayung and other river basins to prevent future floods. A ministry team has been deployed to Bali to support the assessment.

As cleanup operations continue and families begin piecing their lives back together, Denpasar Mayor I Gusti Ngurah Jaya Negara urged vigilance, warning that clogged waterways could trigger further flooding. “We hope the two missing residents can be found soon,” he said.