Thousands of Twitter users shared photos and videos of the village south of the town of Pekalongan in Central Java, being flooded with crimson water, which some social media users say reminds them of blood.
“I am so afraid that this photo will fall into the hands of rumors,” said a Twitter user Ayah E Arek-Arek. “Fear of propaganda narratives about signs that it is the end of the world, bloody rain, etc.”
Pekalongan is a city known for making batik, a traditional Indonesian method of using wax to resist water-based paints to represent patterns and designs, usually on fabric.
It is not uncommon for rivers in Pekalongan to take on different colors. Bright green water covered another village north of the city during a flood last month.
“Sometimes there are also purple puddles on the road,” said Twitter user Area Julid, who said he was from the area.
The head of humanitarian aid in Pekalongan, Dimas Arga Yudha, confirmed that the photos being circulated were real.
“The red flood is due to the batik dye, which was hit by the flood. It will disappear when it mixes with the rain after a while,” he said.