As if it’s an annual ceremony, every year Jakarta will get hit by a huge rain that overloads the city’s water management system. Some neighborhoods, however, are impacted much worse than others. This year, I found myself cycling into one of those neighborhoods.
I arrived from Jl. Sudirman to find that the whole Bendungan Hilir (Benhil) has been flooded. Since my intention was to reach the other side of Benhil, I actually had the option to go around the flood from TPU Karet. But at this point, I already got soaked cycling from my house to the city. My t-shirt was already wet, I can feel the sole of my shoe soaked in water, and I’ll most likely have to wash and regrease my bike when I get home.
So I cycled through the flood.
The first 100 meters or so was fine. The flood was only about 15–20cm deep and had no currents. In front of RM Surya, however, I began to notice that the flood was getting deeper. This was the point where I realized that I’m already at the point of no return. I had no concerns with getting swept by the water since I’m riding a heavy steel bike. But every time I looked into the murky water, I kept on remembering those videos of people falling into holes as they were trying to cross a flood.
The road eventually got higher in front of the police station. A bunch of people in uniforms was present and they were taking pictures of each other. These pictures would then make their way to their supervisors as a form of report.
I guess with the flood coming in every year, locals didn’t seem to panic that much. They seem to be able to estimate how deep the flood can be. They know the parking spots where the flood won’t reach their scooters.
Some parts of Benhil that are further away from Kali Krukut remain dry though. In these areas, it’s business as usual. I had lunch at this Mie Aceh stall with Dhiqa, my college friend who lived in the area at that time. I put my bike at his place and we went for a walk towards Kali Krukut.
We found an accessible bridge that goes over Kali Krukut. Apparently, this bridge is one of the higher points of the neighborhood, so people parked their scooters and moved their electronics like this fridge on top of the bridge.
From the bridge, I finally have a wider view of the neighborhood. There is no buffer between the river and people’s homes. In the foreground, high-rise buildings can be seen and more of them are expected to pop up soon.
I grabbed my bike from Dhiqa’s place and was planning to leave Benhil. But I took a small detour back to the police station to see the situation.
The flood was still there, in fact, the flood was getting deeper and I can feel that the current is way much faster than in the morning.
These kids filled me in on what I have missed since the morning. They said that someone caught a snake as the water was rising. Probably explains why it’s much less crowded than the morning. The kids said that this year is still ‘better’ than last year’s flood that happened during New Year’s Eve. Last year they were able to ride on rescue boats.
I went into another alleyway behind the main Bendungan Hilir street.
In this alleyway, I talked to an uncle who explained to me why the flood is rising. He told me that the level of Kali Krukut is controlled by a small dam nearby. It seems that they have opened up the dam which causes the flood to rise even though the rain has already stopped. Similar to what the kids said earlier, uncle also said that last year’s flood was much worse.
My conversation with uncle got interrupted as the water was quickly rising. We had to take a few steps back. As the water flows out from the gutter, so do the creatures that inhabit it. Cockroaches and centipedes began to crawl out into the streets. I thought this was a good moment to leave and cycle to another alleyway.
At this point, a thought came into my mind about how riding bicycles gave me a different perspective towards a place and situation. Not saying that it’s always a better one, and definitely not claiming that it made me experience the same struggle that these people are going through. But it’s a perspective that I probably won’t get if I came here with a car, or reading updates from my Twitter timeline.
The last alleyway that I went in was the one next to Pasar Benhil. These two shopkeepers seem to have caught off guard when the water rapidly rises. In these alleyways, no people in uniforms are around.
I circled around and made my way to the entrance of Benhil from Jl. Sudirman.
At first, I thought that I have spent my whole day at Benhil. But looking at the timestamp of my photos, apparently I only spent about three hours here. Yet I experienced so much during these three hours.
