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PUB explains flash floods
By Saifulbahri Ismail | Posted: 05 June 2011 1943 hrs
SINGAPORE: The extent of the floods caused by heavy and intensive rainfall on Sunday morning caught the authorities by surprise, as it was something which national water agency PUB had not seen in the last 25 years.
PUB explained that the flash floods were caused by two bouts of heavy rainfall.
The first started slightly past 6am, and second downpour, which was more intense, occurred at about 10.30am.
About 65mm of rainfall was recorded within 30 minutes.
This was worse than the one on June 16 last year, which had 100mm of rainfall within two hours.
PUB held a news conference on Sunday afternoon, saying it had mobilised staff and contractors to the flooded sites once it received alerts of heavy rain.
PUB also deployed tankers to affected areas to pump out the water from carparks located in basements of buildings.
PUB chief executive Khoo Teng Chye 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."
Minister for the Environmental and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan inspected the flood areas at Tanglin Mall.
Speaking to reporters later, Dr Balakrishnan outlined five key areas he would focus on, to deal with the flood situation.
First is the presumption that weather patterns in Singapore has changed.
"Personally, I think our weather has changed. I'm actually psychologically prepared for it to get worse," Dr Balakrishnan said.
"You're reading 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.
"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."
Dr Balakrishnan said because of the changing weather conditions, his ministry will need to review planing norms, which includes designing of drainage systems.
He added his priority now is to maintain safety along drains and to ensure roads are passable even during heavy rainfall.
Dr Balakrishnan said he also intends to ensure buildings are better prepared to cope with the occurrence of floods.
Govt to review canals across S'pore as part of efforts to prevent floods
By Jeremy Koh | Posted: 19 June 2010 1636 hrs
SINGAPORE : Following Wednesday's Orchard Road floods, the government will be reviewing all canals across Singapore to prevent a recurrence of the floods.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said this on Saturday on the sidelines of a community event.
He added that it is a matter the government is taking "very seriously".
Dr Yaacob said the government will be reviewing all canals in Singapore to see what more can be done.
It will look at ways to improve maintenance.
For example, the cleaning contracts for canals will be extended from three to five years so that contractors can invest in new technologies to clean the canals.
"Every event is a new learning experience for us. This rainfall was totally unexpected, I can be very honest about it. If you look at rainfall patterns, we've never seen such a pattern," said Dr Yaacob.
"Having said that, it means there are new things happening, so the approach we should be taking is to learn from this, improve upon it, and assure Singaporeans that we'll do our best to prevent this as much as possible," he added.
"The Marina Barrage works because when the rainfall came, we opened up six gates and the water flowed out and there was no flooding downtown. So had there not been a blockage, it'll be a very good system as far as we're concerned," he said.
Dr Yaacob said early investigations showed that both sections of the Stamford Canal in Orchard Road could handle the storm surge, if not for the blockage in one of them.
So this is one area that agencies like PUB and the National Environment Agency (NEA) will be looking into to prevent a future occurrence.
"The ministries responsible will have to take it up. On my part, PUB and NEA will do their part to improve this, (and) if we have to work with NParks, we'll work with NParks. The PUB will be going around, looking at which buildings are susceptible to such rainfall and see what we can do with them," said Dr Yaacob.
The minister also said the response by PUB and other agencies has been commendable, as they did their best to help the businesses and people affected.
"The PUB will be going around, looking at which buildings are susceptible to such rainfall and see what we can do with them," said dr Yaacob.
Asked about compensation for the damage, Dr Yaacob said the government will assist those affected as much as possible.
He also said that new buildings and construction in the area are not a contributing factor to the floods, contrary to what some believe. - CNA /ls
Thursday's floods an event that occurs once every 50 years
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 20 November 2009 1933 hrs
SINGAPORE: A big clean-up is underway on Friday in many areas across Singapore which were flooded due to the heavy rainfall on Thursday.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said that work is ongoing to improve the structure of the drains to cope better with such events.
The wet season, due to the northeast monsoon, could well spill over into January. Authorities here said they are planning to upgrade some facilities in phases.
Dr Yaacob said: "I hope the public will have more patience with us because it will take us some time to enlarge those drains. But having said that, it is not possible for us to plan for every event.
"Yesterday's event, I was told by the PUB, occurs once every 50 years. It could be tomorrow. But we have to plan accordingly. Most importantly, we have to have a proper drainage system... (that is) being continually upgraded, and a proper response system."
The damage in affected areas, such as an underground carpark at Sixth Avenue Centre, is still being calculated. Residents told MediaCorp that workers toiled through most of the night to pump out the flood waters, which apparently came up to about 2 metres.
Workers were still pumping out debris that had swept into the drainage areas on Friday. Some residents said they were still in shock after seeing their cars float away from their lots.
At Eng Neo Avenue, the Zhang residence looks none the worse for wear. But that was after a massive clean-up into the night as flood waters had caused the pond to overflow and damage the wooden floors.
Myrna Morales, a domestic worker, said the flooding was so bad that carpets had to be removed to mop up the water.
Amidst the clean-up, car workshops have reported increased business for repair works that range from drying out cars to repairing engines, costing over S$10,000.
PUB explains flash floods
By Saifulbahri Ismail | Posted: 05 June 2011 1943 hrs
SINGAPORE: The extent of the floods caused by heavy and intensive rainfall on Sunday morning caught the authorities by surprise, as it was something which national water agency PUB had not seen in the last 25 years.
PUB explained that the flash floods were caused by two bouts of heavy rainfall.
The first started slightly past 6am, and second downpour, which was more intense, occurred at about 10.30am.
About 65mm of rainfall was recorded within 30 minutes.
This was worse than the one on June 16 last year, which had 100mm of rainfall within two hours.
PUB held a news conference on Sunday afternoon, saying it had mobilised staff and contractors to the flooded sites once it received alerts of heavy rain.
PUB also deployed tankers to affected areas to pump out the water from carparks located in basements of buildings.
PUB chief executive Khoo Teng Chye 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."
Minister for the Environmental and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan inspected the flood areas at Tanglin Mall.
Speaking to reporters later, Dr Balakrishnan outlined five key areas he would focus on, to deal with the flood situation.
First is the presumption that weather patterns in Singapore has changed.
"Personally, I think our weather has changed. I'm actually psychologically prepared for it to get worse," Dr Balakrishnan said.
"You're reading 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.
"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."
Dr Balakrishnan said because of the changing weather conditions, his ministry will need to review planing norms, which includes designing of drainage systems.
He added his priority now is to maintain safety along drains and to ensure roads are passable even during heavy rainfall.
Dr Balakrishnan said he also intends to ensure buildings are better prepared to cope with the occurrence of floods.
Govt to review canals across S'pore as part of efforts to prevent floods
By Jeremy Koh | Posted: 19 June 2010 1636 hrs
SINGAPORE : Following Wednesday's Orchard Road floods, the government will be reviewing all canals across Singapore to prevent a recurrence of the floods.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said this on Saturday on the sidelines of a community event.
He added that it is a matter the government is taking "very seriously".
Dr Yaacob said the government will be reviewing all canals in Singapore to see what more can be done.
It will look at ways to improve maintenance.
For example, the cleaning contracts for canals will be extended from three to five years so that contractors can invest in new technologies to clean the canals.
"Every event is a new learning experience for us. This rainfall was totally unexpected, I can be very honest about it. If you look at rainfall patterns, we've never seen such a pattern," said Dr Yaacob.
"Having said that, it means there are new things happening, so the approach we should be taking is to learn from this, improve upon it, and assure Singaporeans that we'll do our best to prevent this as much as possible," he added.
"The Marina Barrage works because when the rainfall came, we opened up six gates and the water flowed out and there was no flooding downtown. So had there not been a blockage, it'll be a very good system as far as we're concerned," he said.
Dr Yaacob said early investigations showed that both sections of the Stamford Canal in Orchard Road could handle the storm surge, if not for the blockage in one of them.
So this is one area that agencies like PUB and the National Environment Agency (NEA) will be looking into to prevent a future occurrence.
"The ministries responsible will have to take it up. On my part, PUB and NEA will do their part to improve this, (and) if we have to work with NParks, we'll work with NParks. The PUB will be going around, looking at which buildings are susceptible to such rainfall and see what we can do with them," said Dr Yaacob.
The minister also said the response by PUB and other agencies has been commendable, as they did their best to help the businesses and people affected.
"The PUB will be going around, looking at which buildings are susceptible to such rainfall and see what we can do with them," said dr Yaacob.
Asked about compensation for the damage, Dr Yaacob said the government will assist those affected as much as possible.
He also said that new buildings and construction in the area are not a contributing factor to the floods, contrary to what some believe. - CNA /ls
Thursday's floods an event that occurs once every 50 years
By Asha Popatlal, Channel NewsAsia | Posted: 20 November 2009 1933 hrs
SINGAPORE: A big clean-up is underway on Friday in many areas across Singapore which were flooded due to the heavy rainfall on Thursday.
Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said that work is ongoing to improve the structure of the drains to cope better with such events.
The wet season, due to the northeast monsoon, could well spill over into January. Authorities here said they are planning to upgrade some facilities in phases.
Dr Yaacob said: "I hope the public will have more patience with us because it will take us some time to enlarge those drains. But having said that, it is not possible for us to plan for every event.
"Yesterday's event, I was told by the PUB, occurs once every 50 years. It could be tomorrow. But we have to plan accordingly. Most importantly, we have to have a proper drainage system... (that is) being continually upgraded, and a proper response system."
The damage in affected areas, such as an underground carpark at Sixth Avenue Centre, is still being calculated. Residents told MediaCorp that workers toiled through most of the night to pump out the flood waters, which apparently came up to about 2 metres.
Workers were still pumping out debris that had swept into the drainage areas on Friday. Some residents said they were still in shock after seeing their cars float away from their lots.
At Eng Neo Avenue, the Zhang residence looks none the worse for wear. But that was after a massive clean-up into the night as flood waters had caused the pond to overflow and damage the wooden floors.
Myrna Morales, a domestic worker, said the flooding was so bad that carpets had to be removed to mop up the water.
Amidst the clean-up, car workshops have reported increased business for repair works that range from drying out cars to repairing engines, costing over S$10,000.
