Renowned as a destination for relaxation, a sense of fear is rippling through the Island of the Gods.
Unexpected and deadly flooding rocked Bali last week, at a scale many have never experienced before.
The floods, which peaked on Wednesday, killed at least 18 people, inundating and destroying homes, villas and shops across large swathes of the island.
In the wake of this disaster, the search has begun for answers.
Outside of the heavy rainfall, authorities, environmental groups and locals have come to blame two things.
Overdevelopment, and trash.
In the days following the floods, Indonesia's environment minister visited the tourist mecca, clearly pointing the finger at rampant tourism-focused development in Bali's drainage basin.
In a massive move for Bali, which continues to attract record numbers of tourists, its governor has now moved to ban all new commercial construction on agricultural land.
Demand for tourism accommodation
Early on Wednesday morning, Putu Oka Darmiati woke to prepare for a ceremony at her Denpasar home when she stepped outside into knee-high water.
"I recorded a video of the bridge and the water was already well above it," she said.
"We moved here in 1975, we had flooding in 1989, but this was the worst."
Ms Darmiati and many Balinese have watched the island completely transform within the last decade, with its iconic rice paddies and agricultural land transformed into fields of villas.
"The development in Bali is going fast … but the laws have been ignored because areas that are supposed to be a green-belt zone are being developed," she said.
"In the end, we the people suffer from the impact.
"But what else can we do? We've submitted complaints but even though they respond, they don't do anything about it."
Environmental group Walhi Bali has been tracking the loss of agricultural land across Bali's key tourism districts, like Badung, Gianyar and Tabanan.
It says each year between 3 and 6 per cent of agricultural land in these districts has been converted into commercial use, with the pace of construction around the island picking up.
"This massive development has caused rapid agricultural land conversion," Walhi Bali executive director Made Krisna Dinata said.
"This flooding that we recently experienced, in such a large scale, directly hit the heart of Denpasar and caused chaos.
"There is so much tourist accommodation being built, and according to our records, much of it is built by violating coastal zones, river zones and often these developments are located in disaster-prone areas."
Indonesia is, of course, no stranger to heavy rain but environmental groups and planners say replacing rice paddies and other agricultural land is removing the island's ability to adequately drain or absorb rainwater.
Walhi Bali has been calling for a moratorium on new developments for more than a decade.
"We have strongly voiced the need for a moratorium, because Bali has suffered from overdevelopment since before 2012," Made Krisna Dinata said.
"Even in the eyes of the world, Bali is seen as a case of overtourism."
I Nyoman Gede Maha Putra, an Architecture & Planning expert at Warmadewa University Denpasar, said for the last two decades, Bali has been developed rapidly without projects aimed at mitigating disasters.
"Much of the actual development has taken place in rice fields, forests, and along riverbanks," he said.
"The banks of the Ayung River, for example, have become prime locations for villas and luxury housing investments.
"Forests in Ubud and around Payangan have also changed significantly.
"Coastal areas such as Uluwatu, Canggu, and Seminyak show the same trend, where tourist amenities are built dangerously close to the water … this clearly demonstrates the lack of disaster mitigation considerations."
New builds paused
On the weekend, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto visited victims of the floods, reportedly telling Bali's locals they would be looked after and the government would consider long-term efforts to improve disaster preparedness.
The country's Environment Minister Hanif Faisal Nurofiq also came to Bali and said on top of the heavy rains, land conversion around river basins was a key factor in the flooding.
"In total, Bali's watersheds cover about 45,000 hectares, but only 1,500 hectares, or roughly 3 per cent, are tree-covered," Minister Nurofiq said.
"Ideally, at least 30 per cent of watershed areas should have trees to help absorb and retain rainfall during extreme weather."
Accompanying the minister was Bali Governor I Wayan Koster, who announced the moratorium of new builds on agricultural land.
"Instructions have been issued to regents and mayors throughout Bali," Governor Koster said.
"After handling this flood, we will meet again to stop issuing permits, granting permission for hotels, restaurants, and other facilities to use productive land, especially rice paddies."
It's not yet clear how long the moratorium will be in place.
The ABC understands new construction permits will not be issued, but existing construction on the island can continue.
Even the Badung chapter of Indonesia's Hotel and Restaurant Association says it agrees with the moratorium, despite the ban likely to scupper future commercial development for years.
"It's an important step to maintain the balance between development and environmental preservation," the association's I Gusti Agung Ngurah Rai Suryawijaya said.
"This temporary pause can be a good moment for us to evaluate, so that future development can be better directed.
"In the short-term the moratorium may limit the growth of new hotels, or villas, but in the long run this is very positive to preserve Bali's environmental qualities."
He says there's more than enough accommodation to cater to Bali's enormous number of foreign and domestic tourists and the excess supply has led to pricing wars among accommodation providers.
Bali is set for a new annual record for foreign visitors, expecting to receive more than 6.5-million tourists.
July this year broke monthly records, with almost 700,000 foreign tourists visiting the island.
The greatest fear for many on the island is that future flooding could undermine Bali's reputation as a tourism destination, with tourism being the key economic driver on the island.
'The trash came from everywhere'
With the rainy season only just beginning, and warnings of extreme rainfall in a few months' time, many are on edge.
Rukayah's family have owned and run a batik store near Denpasar's market for generations.
The entire building, built on the bank of a river in Denpasar, crumbled during last week's powerful floods.
Four people were killed in other stores in the building.
"This is the first time I've experienced this kind of flooding, I was in shock," Rukayah said.
"Every time it rains I feel so traumatised … It rained on Monday and I felt so anxious."
She and many other Balinese have criticised the Bali government's decision to close the Suwung landfill, the only rubbish tip on the island, earlier this year.
Governor Koster said the Suwung landfill was polluting the environment and that other waste management strategies would be prepared.
In August the governor told residents to manage their own trash.
Many say the decision has led to significant, illegal dumping of rubbish into the island's rivers, which exacerbated the flood and the clean-up.
"The trash came from everywhere … I don't know exactly where it came from," Rukayah said.
"Suddenly the flash flood happened, and the water flow was so strong."
The Suwung landfill has been temporarily reopened to handle the enormous amount of debris and waste from last week's floods, but many feel Bali's waste needs to be handled better into the future.
While there's a deep sense of worry about whether floods will recur, some are hopeful that the construction ban will lead to better long-term environmental and planning outcomes.
The Hotel and Restaurant Association said regulations have been clear, but there has been a lack of communication and coordination between property developers and Bali's government.
Environmental groups say regulations in future need to be enforced, to make sure both developers and government work on flood mitigation strategies.
"Hopefully the government can use this momentum to be firm in city planning and law enforcement on developments that cause environmental degradation, while prioritising environmental conservation and restoration, so that we will not experience disasters like this flooding again," Walhi Bali's Made Krisna Dinata said.
