SINGAPORE : The heavy downpour on Friday morning caused
chaos on the roads with another bout of flooding across the
island.
At least four people were injured, and several others trapped by
rising waters and fallen trees.
This comes just a week after flash floods wreaked havoc at
Singapore's Orchard Road shopping belt.
A van crushed by a massive tree was just one casualty of the storm
that lashed through the island early Friday morning. Gusty winds
uprooted the entire tree from its roots.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) said two people in the van
were injured and were sent to Tan Tock Seng Hospital.
Along the Central Expressway (CTE), another tree fell onto a car,
causing a massive traffic jam which stretched several
kilometres.
Traffic Police were on hand to divert traffic away from the CTE
towards SLE in between the Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 and Ang Mo Kio Ave 3
exit due to the fallen tree.
For many motorists, visibility on the roads was down to just a few
metres.
A similar scene was observed near Orchard Central. A fallen tree
blocked three lanes of traffic.
Responding to queries from MediaCorp, the National Parks Board said
it attended to 25 incidences of fallen trees at various locations
islandwide.
Its assistant director for Streetscape (Projects), Ng Cheow Kheng,
said: "Most obstructions involving fallen trees or branches this
morning were cleared within the hour, or pushed to the road verges
to be cleared later.
"The exception was the fallen tree at the Central Expressway (after
Ang Mo Kio Ave 1), which took about two hours to remove due to
traffic conditions."
Mr Ng added: "We look after about 1 million trees located within
parks, nature reserves and road verges, and they are generally
healthy. We also have a sound tree safety inspection and
maintenance programme in place.
"Our regular checks showed that incidences of fallen trees or
branches were mainly due to adverse weather conditions rather than
poor health or tree rot. ... Apart from regular checks on trees and
soil conditions, we also identify trees which are vulnerable during
rainstorms and replace them with stronger ones."
At a childcare centre at Telok Kurau, in the eastern part of
Singapore, 18 pre-school children and seven adults were evacuated
as knee-deep waters gushed into the building.
The SCDF used pumps to extract water from the affected
building.
MediaCorp viewers also sent in videos of vehicles trapped by rising
waters.
Singapore's national water agency PUB said heavy and intense rain
fell in many parts of Singapore. It added that 100 millimetres (mm)
of rain fell within an hour, between 8am and 9.30am.
That is 60 per cent of the average rainfall recorded for the entire
month of June. The same amount of rainfall was recorded on June 16
when storms led to the massive flooding in Orchard Road.
PUB said the heavy rain on Friday morning caused localised flash
floods in a number of areas and the waters subsided within 30
minutes.
The National Environment Agency (NEA) told MediaCorp that "the
total rainfall recorded for June 2010 to date at the Climate
Station in Changi is 204.3mm".
This has surpassed the average monthly rainfall of 160mm for June.
Two heavy downpours, including the one on Friday morning, in the
last ten days contributed to most of the rainfall - about
200mm.
NEA added: "Although the Southwest Monsoon months of June to
September are characterised by relatively dry weather, it is still
possible for Singapore to experience such intense showers from time
to time.
"For the rest of this month, short-duration showers with thunder
are expected mostly in the late morning and afternoon. Widespread
showers with thunder and occasional gusty winds in the morning can
be expected on 1 or 2 days."
Since the flooding last week, PUB has installed gratings at canals
at Holland Road and behind Tanglin Shopping Centre.
All in, PUB said it will spend S$25,000 to install five gratings in
drains upstream from the Stamford Canal, which runs in the heart of
Orchard Road. The gratings are designed to trap debris while
allowing water to flow through.
Those affected by the floods are hoping such measures will mitigate
any future problems.
At the Lucky Plaza shopping complex, a bookstore which was one of
the many shops hit by the floods last week was luckier this time
round.
Bernard Chung, owner of Discount Bookstore, said: "The flood in my
memory was very clear because I was here at about 10.15am in the
morning and the water came in so quickly it covered up the whole
place and it turned into a swimming pool at the basement.
"This morning I was concerned, so I came a little bit early just to
make sure, but thank god nothing happened."
Interestingly, shopkeepers are now offering post-flood discounts at
Lucky Plaza, in a bid to lure back the crowds.
- CNA/al