EARLY Friday morning, it was still dark in Gintung village around the Situ Gintung area in Ciputat subdistrict, Tangerang regency, Banten. Wawan Sopandi, 50, could not yet go to sleep while his wife, two daughters and son-in-law had fallen into a deep slumber.

He worried about the heavy rain that had been falling since Thursday noon until close to midnight. “There was already flood the night before, the water reached knee-high,” Wawan said.