'By Jeffrey Oon | SingaporeScene
UPDATE
Several retail malls along Orchard Road said the flash floods that took place on Sunday morning was worse this time around than last June.
Tanglin Mall was among the hardest hit with several shops having to close temporarily after flood water from Level One , which was at road level, started pouring in.
Within minutes, water fell like a mini-waterfall onto Basement One. Several businesses -- a supermarket, food court and various shops -- were submerged in ankle-deep water and had to close. There was also widespread chaos after the basement carparks were also affected.
"The shop was
flooded to about ankle-level and everyone was running around. The car park was
flooded (and) cars were stuck. So everyone was frustrated (and) confused," said Family-Com salesperson Dominic Ngiam, as reported on Channel NewsAsia.
Even the St Regis Residences carpark and Forum Shopping Mall were badly affected by the flash floods.
In June 2010, similar floods along Orchard Road cost businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But this time, employees said the floods were worse.
The
Little Gym instructor PJ Lucero said on CNA, "The last time it happened, it was
actually more mild. We were still able to open the facility for the
day. Today (Sunday), of course, everything got submerged, that's why we had to
close down.
"In fact, after the first time it happened, we had sandbags
ready. We did use those sandbags today (but) it didn't work. The water just went
through it".
Chen Jiahui, store manager of Spinelli Coffee Company along Forum Shopping
Mall, added, "This is the second time (it flooded). It's really bad,
so I hope that the management are doing something about it".
National water agency PUB said the
severity of the flood at Tanglin Mall was
something it had not seen in the last 25 years.
It said rainfall was more intense than that of June last year, when
various parts of Orchard Road were flooded. About 65mm of rainfall was
recorded within 30 mins on Sunday morning, compared to 100mm within two hours on
June 16, 2010.
Later in the day, at a press conference which was also attended by Minister for the Environment and
Water Resources, Vivian Balakrishnan, PUB explained that the flash floods on Sunday morning were
caused by two bouts of heavy rainfall.
It said the first bout of rainfall started slightly past 6am, and second downpour, which
was more intense, occurred at about 10.30am.
Speaking after inspecting the flood areas at Tanglin Mall, Dr Balakrishnan said, "Personally, I think our weather has changed. I'm actually
psychologically prepared for it to get worse."
"You're dealing with nature, and you're dealing with the weather; you
have to be prepared that there is a limit to human engineering and what we can
deliver, " he added.
"But having said that, let us make sure we have done the best
we can and within those limits, then cope with whatever else that nature throws
at us."
In a Sunday post on his blog entitled "Focus of floods: 5 Key questions", the Minister also wrote "We are dealing with Nature, and Man needs to be humble when addressing the
challenges that Nature poses".
He also admitted that "sometimes
despite our best efforts, we cannot win" when dealing with flood issues but he promised that "we will be open and transparent. We
will share as much data in real time as possible so that solutions and
precautions can be devised for the immediate and long term."
PUB chief executive Khoo Teng Chye, meanwhile, said he is studying some possible solutions
to prevent future occurrences.
"These include, possibly, building a big
retention pond near where we can then trap some of the peak flows," Mr Khoo
said.
"The other alternative is to really create a diversion canal from
where this pond is to the Singapore River. But given Singapore's
built-up situation, these are very, very expensive schemes."
The heavy downpour early on Sunday also triggered flash floods across several parts of the island.
Senett Estate, Potong Pasir, MacPherson, Toa Payoh and Bukit Timah were also partially submerged by floods.
Two lanes along Bukit Timah Road near Cuscaden and Hillcrest Road were completely impassable to traffic at one stage. So too was the Kranji Expressway (KJE) at the slip road towards Woodlands.
Micro-blogging platform Twitter also lit up with hundreds of tweets, shortly after the flash floods (#sgfloods) hit.
Ex-model and VJ Nadya Hutagalung (@Nadya_HutaGalng) tweeted, "Eng Neo avenue flooded!"
Another Twitter user Akmal Hadi (@Athrun988)
tweeted, "Singapore is gonna be another Venice at the year end monsoon
season if the government's not gonna do anything about it soon."
Another user, Jacqui T (@jacquilah) tweeted, "First world nation with third world drainage
system. Wonderful."
Charlotte Ong (@onglette)
also posted a series of pictures of Tanglin Mall flooding and tweeted,
"Check out the waterfall in the shopping centre" and "First level flood
pouring down to basement."
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UPDATE
Several retail malls along Orchard Road said the flash floods that took place on Sunday morning was worse this time around than last June.
Tanglin Mall was among the hardest hit with several shops having to close temporarily after flood water from Level One , which was at road level, started pouring in.
Within minutes, water fell like a mini-waterfall onto Basement One. Several businesses -- a supermarket, food court and various shops -- were submerged in ankle-deep water and had to close. There was also widespread chaos after the basement carparks were also affected.
"The shop was
flooded to about ankle-level and everyone was running around. The car park was
flooded (and) cars were stuck. So everyone was frustrated (and) confused," said Family-Com salesperson Dominic Ngiam, as reported on Channel NewsAsia.
Even the St Regis Residences carpark and Forum Shopping Mall were badly affected by the flash floods.
In June 2010, similar floods along Orchard Road cost businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars.
But this time, employees said the floods were worse.
The
Little Gym instructor PJ Lucero said on CNA, "The last time it happened, it was
actually more mild. We were still able to open the facility for the
day. Today (Sunday), of course, everything got submerged, that's why we had to
close down.
"In fact, after the first time it happened, we had sandbags
ready. We did use those sandbags today (but) it didn't work. The water just went
through it".
Chen Jiahui, store manager of Spinelli Coffee Company along Forum Shopping
Mall, added, "This is the second time (it flooded). It's really bad,
so I hope that the management are doing something about it".
National water agency PUB said the
severity of the flood at Tanglin Mall was
something it had not seen in the last 25 years.
It said rainfall was more intense than that of June last year, when
various parts of Orchard Road were flooded. About 65mm of rainfall was
recorded within 30 mins on Sunday morning, compared to 100mm within two hours on
June 16, 2010.
Later in the day, at a press conference which was also attended by Minister for the Environment and
Water Resources, Vivian Balakrishnan, PUB explained that the flash floods on Sunday morning were
caused by two bouts of heavy rainfall.
It said the first bout of rainfall started slightly past 6am, and second downpour, which
was more intense, occurred at about 10.30am.
Speaking after inspecting the flood areas at Tanglin Mall, Dr Balakrishnan said, "Personally, I think our weather has changed. I'm actually
psychologically prepared for it to get worse."
"You're dealing with nature, and you're dealing with the weather; you
have to be prepared that there is a limit to human engineering and what we can
deliver, " he added.
"But having said that, let us make sure we have done the best
we can and within those limits, then cope with whatever else that nature throws
at us."
In a Sunday post on his blog entitled "Focus of floods: 5 Key questions", the Minister also wrote "We are dealing with Nature, and Man needs to be humble when addressing the
challenges that Nature poses".
He also admitted that "sometimes
despite our best efforts, we cannot win" when dealing with flood issues but he promised that "we will be open and transparent. We
will share as much data in real time as possible so that solutions and
precautions can be devised for the immediate and long term."
PUB chief executive Khoo Teng Chye, meanwhile, said he is studying some possible solutions
to prevent future occurrences.
"These include, possibly, building a big
retention pond near where we can then trap some of the peak flows," Mr Khoo
said.
"The other alternative is to really create a diversion canal from
where this pond is to the Singapore River. But given Singapore's
built-up situation, these are very, very expensive schemes."
The heavy downpour early on Sunday also triggered flash floods across several parts of the island.
Senett Estate, Potong Pasir, MacPherson, Toa Payoh and Bukit Timah were also partially submerged by floods.
Two lanes along Bukit Timah Road near Cuscaden and Hillcrest Road were completely impassable to traffic at one stage. So too was the Kranji Expressway (KJE) at the slip road towards Woodlands.
Micro-blogging platform Twitter also lit up with hundreds of tweets, shortly after the flash floods (#sgfloods) hit.
Tanglin Mall flooding (courtesy of @onglette)
Ex-model and VJ Nadya Hutagalung (@Nadya_HutaGalng) tweeted, "Eng Neo avenue flooded!"
Another Twitter user Akmal Hadi (@Athrun988)
tweeted, "Singapore is gonna be another Venice at the year end monsoon
season if the government's not gonna do anything about it soon."
Another user, Jacqui T (@jacquilah) tweeted, "First world nation with third world drainage
system. Wonderful."
Charlotte Ong (@onglette)
also posted a series of pictures of Tanglin Mall flooding and tweeted,
"Check out the waterfall in the shopping centre" and "First level flood
pouring down to basement."
