Bali's Streets Become Rivers: Record Floods Send Pythons Swimming Past Resorts

Bali's monsoon season has arrived with unprecedented force, transforming streets into canals and sending residents and tourists paddling past storefronts. For three days, relentless rain has battered the Indonesian island, pushing the Badung River over its banks and inundating the popular regencies of Badung, Jembrana, and Gianyar. Knee-deep water has become the norm, with locals and expatriates resorting to inflatable boats and paddleboards to navigate their neighborhoods.

The flooding has brought unexpected hazards: pythons, displaced from their habitats, have been seen swimming through submerged streets in search of dry ground. The tourist hubs of Kuta and Seminyak are particularly hard-hit, while in Sanur, coastal waters have risen 70 centimeters. Authorities have ordered evacuations at Legian Beach, describing the scale of the deluge as the worst in 15 years.

According to reports from Russian nationals residing on the island, a significant community remains affected. An estimated 18,000 Russian tourists and 35,000 Russian expatriates are currently in Bali.

The severe weather follows major flooding in southwestern France last month, where 16 departments were submerged after the Garonne and Charente rivers overflowed. That event forced over 1,600 people from their homes, threatened historic Loire Valley chateaus, and caused billions of euros in damage. The back-to-back disasters highlight a pattern of increasingly extreme seasonal flooding across global destinations.