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