A video circulating online today shows a bizarre scene charged by Singapore’s unpredictable weather.
Debris at the Changi East construction site, where the upcoming Changi Airport Terminal 5 is expected to be completed in the mid-2030s, was filmed flying high up in circles in a 3-minute video posted on Sunday.
This is an “extremely rare” occurrence known as a landspout which is a type of tornado that forms from the ground up during a thunderstorm, said the Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS).
It occurs when circulating air currents above a warm surface get sucked into the moving air as a thunderstorm cloud develops. But MSS noted that these sudden gusts of wind don’t pose major damage to its surroundings as it only lasts for several minutes.
Sheets of debris including construction barriers and metal barricades were flung in the air and thrown around in circles with dark clouds looming in the background.
The occurrence is not due to climate change because they are “highly localised,” “rare” and “extremely difficult to predict,” said MSS.
East Singapore experienced several thunderstorms on Sunday at around 11am that likely spawned the landspout during that same time.
No injuries were reported, said Changi Airport Group who added that they have since secured the items and resumed work after conducting safety checks.
The last time a landspout was sighted was in 2019 at Tuas.
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