A grand total of nine locations in eastern Singapore was confirmed to be hit by flash floods from the intense rain yesterday, according to the Public Utilities Board (PUB) in a press release about the morning mayhem.
And indeed, it was mayhem — dozens of pictures and videos of the floods went up on social media, captured by folks stranded on the ground. Cars stalled in flood waters, while buses had waters flowing onto their floors. Firefighters from Changi Fire Station had to help direct traffic and rescue vehicles stranded in the murky teh tarik-hued waters.
The nine locations — including the likes of Tampines Road, Sims Avenue, Bedok Road, and Jalan Nipah — are already undergoing drainage improvement works, assured PUB. They’ll only be completed by the first quarter of next year at the most though.
For hours, the freak weather event battered the island with heavy rain. The first flash flood was said to have occurred at 8:30am, and it was only around 10:30am that all of them subsided.
“The wet weather conditions, due to the prevailing Northeast Monsoon, was aggravated by the development of a Sumatra squall over the Straits of Malacca which moved eastwards, thus affecting Singapore,” explained PUB.
The worst spot hit was Kim Chuan Road, an area that received four continuous hours of downpour with as much rainfall as half of Singapore’s average monthly rainfall in January.
The public is urged to avoid stepping into or driving into flooded areas, and to stay tuned to radio broadcasts and PUB’s online updates during the monsoon season, which is forecasted to carry on into the first fortnight of 2018.
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