Jakarta:
A surreal, blood-red river inundated the Indonesian village of Jenggot following floods hit a nearby batik factory on Saturday, causing a frenzy on social media.
Thousands of customers on Twitter shared photographs and videos of the village south of Pekalongan city in Central Java becoming flooded by crimson-coloured water, which some social media customers mentioned reminded them of blood.
“I am so afraid if this photo gets into the bad hands of hoax spreaders,” mentioned a Twitter user Ayah E Arek-Arek. “Fear mongering narratives about signs that it is the end of the world, bloody rain etc”.
Pekalongan is a city recognized for manufacturing batik, a regular Indonesian system of employing wax to resist water-based dyes to depict patterns and drawings, commonly on fabric.
It is not uncommon for rivers in Pekalongan to turn distinct colours. Bright green water covered a further village north of the city in the course of a flood final month.
“Sometimes there are purple puddles on the road too,” mentioned Twitter user Area Julid, who claimed to be from the location.
The head of Pekalongan disaster relief, Dimas Arga Yudha, confirmed that the photographs becoming circulated had been actual.
“The red flood is due to the batik dye, which has been hit by the flood. It will disappear when it mixes with rain after a while,” he mentioned.
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