Yaacob in parliament: Flooding is not my fault

[SNAblog]

Yaacob and PUB spent the entire weekend flipping through textbooks to come out with these excuses:

1. Heavy rainful due to "Sumatra squalls"
2. Influence of Typhon Conson
3. Prevailing La Nina conditons
4. France, China and Japan also got floods, Spore is an small island in the tropic, so must have flood

Solutions:
1. More talkcock sessions (dialogues)
2. Speed up plans on drainage improvement in next three month to end of the year. Meantime, just bear with it.
3. Singaporeans must be realistic and stop complaining about flooding

Okay, case closed. Tea-break time for Yaacob and PUB's fat cats.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1070180/1/.html

PUB plans to speed up drainage improvements to several major canals, drains

By Mustafa Shafawi | Posted: 19 July 2010 1434 hrs

SINGAPORE: Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said there are plans to implement drainage improvements to several major canals and drains.

Speaking in reply to parliamentary questions on recent floods in Singapore on Monday, Dr Yaacob said the tender for improvement to Geylang River closed in June.

Tenders for improvements to Bukit Timah First Diversion Canal and the downstream stretch of Rochor Canal1 will be called in the next three months.

Tenders for the upgrading of major drains along Thomson Road and MacPherson Road will be also called by the end of the year.

Works to improve the drainage system in the flood prone areas of Little India will start in the next few months.

Dr Yaacob said wherever possible, PUB will bring forward the start of these works and expedite their completion.

He said an urgent review of the Stamford Canal is also being undertaken.

Dr Yaacob said the incidence of flash floods is a challenge faced by cities around the world.

Recently, devastating floods in France, China and Japan inflicted significant damage and loss of lives.

As an island in the tropics, Singapore is especially prone to intense rain storms.

He said Singapore has seen the occurrence of three intense rainfall events over the past month, caused by Sumatra squalls and the influence of Typhoon Conson, and aggravated by the prevailing La Nina conditions.

Dr Yaacob said climate change could add a new level of complexity to this.

He said he empathised with the frustration and anxiety of those affected by the recent floods.

Dr Yaacob said PUB officers will continue to hold dialogues with affected residents and businesses and advise on possible improvement measures that they can take.

He said improvements will also be made to the alert system to provide early warning of possible floods to the public.

The minister said although it might not be realistic to expect Singapore to be completely flood free, his Ministry will work with the relevant agencies to carry out a systematic review of all major drainage systems and their design parameters, as a priority.

The review is expected to take several months, and all possible interventions will be considered within the constraints of cost effectiveness and competing uses for limited land in Singapore. - CNA/vm

 

[Goh Meng Seng]

They have very thin skin to admit any wrong doing... because once they admit, they will have to quit.

But at the very least, they are listening to NSP to set up new weather alert system.

I still think that they need an overhaul and a committee of inquiry is necessary for that purpose.

Goh Meng Seng

Yaacob and PUB spent the entire weekend flipping through textbooks to come out with these excuses:

1. Heavy rainful due to "Sumatra squalls"
2. Influence of Typhon Conson
3. Prevailing La Nina conditons
4. France, China and Japan also got floods, Spore is an small island in the tropic, so must have flood

Solutions:
1. More talkcock sessions (dialogues)
2. Speed up plans on drainage improvement in next three month to end of the year. Meantime, just bear with it.
3. Singaporeans must be realistic and stop complaining about flooding

Okay, case closed. Tea-break time for Yaacob and PUB's fat cats.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/1070180/1/.html

PUB plans to speed up drainage improvements to several major canals, drains

By Mustafa Shafawi | Posted: 19 July 2010 1434 hrs

SINGAPORE: Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said there are plans to implement drainage improvements to several major canals and drains.

Speaking in reply to parliamentary questions on recent floods in Singapore on Monday, Dr Yaacob said the tender for improvement to Geylang River closed in June.

Tenders for improvements to Bukit Timah First Diversion Canal and the downstream stretch of Rochor Canal1 will be called in the next three months.

Tenders for the upgrading of major drains along Thomson Road and MacPherson Road will be also called by the end of the year.

Works to improve the drainage system in the flood prone areas of Little India will start in the next few months.

Dr Yaacob said wherever possible, PUB will bring forward the start of these works and expedite their completion.

He said an urgent review of the Stamford Canal is also being undertaken.

Dr Yaacob said the incidence of flash floods is a challenge faced by cities around the world.

Recently, devastating floods in France, China and Japan inflicted significant damage and loss of lives.

As an island in the tropics, Singapore is especially prone to intense rain storms.

He said Singapore has seen the occurrence of three intense rainfall events over the past month, caused by Sumatra squalls and the influence of Typhoon Conson, and aggravated by the prevailing La Nina conditions.

Dr Yaacob said climate change could add a new level of complexity to this.

He said he empathised with the frustration and anxiety of those affected by the recent floods.

Dr Yaacob said PUB officers will continue to hold dialogues with affected residents and businesses and advise on possible improvement measures that they can take.

He said improvements will also be made to the alert system to provide early warning of possible floods to the public.

The minister said although it might not be realistic to expect Singapore to be completely flood free, his Ministry will work with the relevant agencies to carry out a systematic review of all major drainage systems and their design parameters, as a priority.

The review is expected to take several months, and all possible interventions will be considered within the constraints of cost effectiveness and competing uses for limited land in Singapore. - CNA/vm

 

[red amoeba]

pay millions of dollars in minister pay, PUB offer scholarships to groom talents...and we are affected by not one not two but three floods within 24 months !

What a joke !

I rather take the money and employ an army of banglas to sweep & clear the drains...

 

[Microsoft]

If Marina Barrage is truly the cause of slowing down water flow into the sea during a downpour...Then improving all those drains help but little...Bottleneck still there...Me think what we need is another large canal with flood gate control that go directly into sea bypassing the Barrage during a 50yrs event...

 

[Leckmichamarsch]

They have very thin skin to admit any wrong doing... because once they admit, they will have to quit.

But at the very least, they are listening to NSP to set up new weather alert system.

I still think that they need an overhaul and a committee of inquiry is necessary for that purpose.

Goh Meng Seng

Enuf of their bullshit!
Let our votes speak!

 

[SNAblog]

Sumatra squalls:

http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2009/04/tropical-storm-behind-strongest-winds.html

Tropical storm behind strongest winds to hit Singapore in 9 years

Tan Yew Guan, Channel NewsAsia 23 Apr 09;

SINGAPORE: The National Environment Agency (NEA) says a tropical storm is the reason for the strong winds which blew into Singapore Wednesday night.

A wind speed of up to 83 kilometres per hour was recorded -- the strongest in nearly nine years.

Among the damage caused - fallen trees and a broken construction crane.

Residents of private condominium Abelia woke up to find their Ardmore Park neighbourhood, near Shangri La Hotel, behind police lines.

A construction crane at a neighbouring building had snapped into two, with most of it dangling precariously from the 30th floor.

Police say a lifting kit connected to the crane was found along the road. No one was injured.

But the Manpower Ministry has stopped work at the site while it figures out how to safely recover the crane.

It is investigating the incident, which has also attracted the attention of other builders nearby.

Tan Heok Ngee Benjamin, Project Manager, C@nspecs Pte Ltd, said: "This crane is commonly used in a lot of construction sites. So if some problem happens here, we want to see if there is anything we can do to prevent this from happening."

Officials from the building company involved, Poh Lian Construction, were tight-lipped about the incident.

Like many others across the island, residents in the neighbourhood say they experienced unusually strong winds last night.

The winds also wreaked havoc elsewhere across Singapore last night.

The NEA says the strong winds were caused by a Sumatra squall, named as such because the storm usually develops overnight in Sumatra and the Strait of Malacca, before sweeping into Singapore between midnight and daybreak.

NEA says such storms usually occur between April and September.

For the rest of the month, we can expect another one or two Sumatra squalls, but they are unlikely to be as severe as the one on Wednesday night.- CNA/yt


Wild wind wreaks havoc
Sumatran squall tears up trees around the island, NEA expects one ortwo more this month
Esther Ng and Neo Chai Chin Today Online
24 Apr 09;


THE calls began flooding in a little after 11pm on Wednesday — of trees being uprooted or their branches snapped and strewn on roads, roadwork barriers being dislodged and even a construction crane that was left dangling atop an unfinished building.

The culprit responsible for this widespread damage: One feisty Sumatran squall.

According to the National Environment Agency (NEA), these thunderstorms usually occur between April and September.

For 90 minutes from 11pm on Wednesday to early Thursday, mean wind speeds ranging from 33kmh to54 kmh were recorded across the island. The highest wind speed logged was83 kmh in the west — the strongest in nearly nine years.

All in all, the police received more than 400 calls because of the gale, and the National Parks Board cleared 27 fallen trees and about 150 fallen branches.

One or two such Sumatran squalls are expected for the rest of the month, but they are unlikely to be as strong as the one that lashed the island two nights ago, the NEA said.

Yesterday, motorists on the PanIsland Expressway near Ardmore Road found themselves stuck in a massive traffic jam during the morning rush-hour.

A crane on top of an uncompleted condominium near Ardmore Park had snapped and a part of the boom was left twisting in the wind. Dangling ominously by the side of the building, it looked like it could crash to the ground at any moment and the roads around the area had to be cordoned off.

The Ministry of Manpower, which oversees workplace safety, could not confirm if it was the wind that caused the crane to snap, but it immediately issued a stop-work order. No one was hurt in the incident.

Mr Chang Long Yew, an engineer who lives on the 12th floor of a block in Jurong East, said wind speeds picked up suddenly at around 11.20pm on Wednesday.

“Trees were swinging very badly and some large branches from one tree fell on an overhead bridge and onto the road,” he recounted.

Mrs Alice Yap, a Toa Payoh resident, was sleeping at the time, but her husband was “watching television when he heard a loud boom — like the ceiling was falling”, she said.

“It turned out that two to three pieces — about the size of a door — of asbestos-like material had fallen off a pillar,” said Mrs Yap.

Over in Woodlands, businessman Tony Liau said his remote control, telephone and cups were blown off the table of his sixth-floor flat.

“We’ve lived here for over 10 years and it’s never happened before,” he said.

As Mr Liau went around his flat shutting windows, he saw his neighbours doing the same. Gingerly looking out their windows, they were all “wondering why the winds were so strong”

 

[Leckmichamarsch]

If Marina Barrage is truly the cause of slowing down water flow into the sea during a downpour...Then improving all those drains help but little...Bottleneck still there...Me think what we need is another large canal with flood gate control that go directly into sea bypassing the Barrage during a 50yrs event...

LHL tried to scare us off by saying to contain floods we need to set aside huge tracts of land, etc!

Heard of underground rivers, lakes ......... even some of our MRT tracks are underground incl ammo storage!

Paid $3 mio to tok cock!

 

[jw5]

Who stole the cookie from the cookie box?
Who? Me?
Yes. You.
Couldn't be.
Then who?

 

[oli9]

Was it his fault if when he's paid millions of dollars?

 

[SNAblog]

http://news.xin.msn.com/en/singapore/article.aspx?cp-documentid=4191983

By Channel NewsAsia, Updated:
01/07/2010

Heavy rain causes flash floods in MacPherson & Paya Lebar

SINGAPORE: Heavy rain on Thursday afternoon caused localised flash floods at MacPherson Road and Tai Seng Drive.

National water agency, PUB, said the flash floods subsided within 30 minutes.

A caller to the MediaCorp Hotline, Jerry Hanis, who works in Kampong Ampat, said that traffic had to be diverted.

"The worst was at MacPherson Road, the flooding was very bad. And Kampong Ampat is a small road near the Mazda showroom. There were two lanes where vehicles couldn’t pass through. Only the right—most lane was left for traffic. This is not the first time that it was flooded here. It floods whenever it rains," he said.

PUB, Traffic Police and SCDF officers were activated to give assistance on site.

PUB said there was no flooding in Bukit Timah and Orchard Road.

It is currently widening and deepening an outlet drain at MacPherson to help with the flood situation.

Work is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Meanwhile, a fallen tree along Braddell Road towards Toa Payoh Lorong 6 caused traffic in the area to slow.

NParks said it was alerted to the incident at about 1pm.

It said its officers managed to push the tree to the side of the road by about 2pm.

The total rainfall for June this year is 10 times higher compared to the same period last year.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) said the total rainfall recorded at Changi Climate Station in June is 240.5 mm, up from just 21.8 mm last year.

However, it is not the first time Singapore experienced heavy rainfall in the month of June. There was a similar level of rainfall in June 2006.

The Meteorological Services added that average rainfall for June since 1869 is 162.2 mm.

NEA said the above average rainfall for June this year can be attributed to the occurrence of intense thunderstorms and "Sumatra" squalls that affected Singapore during the month.

Sumatra squalls are significant rain—bearing systems that occur more commonly during the Southwest Monsoon months from June to September.

NEA added that the weather in July could continue to be affected by "Sumatra" squalls.

PUB has advised the public to exercise caution as flash floods may still occur in the event of heavy storms.

— CNA/ir/ls

 

[red amoeba]

Actually Mr Yacult is tokking cock...

U see...Singapore flood...during the same time...did we hear Mudland oso flood? He blame the whatever typhoon in Philippines for this....Mudland logically will genna first right? And genna worse right?

 

[Microsoft]

LHL tried to scare us off by saying to contain floods we need to set aside huge tracts of land, etc!

Heard of underground rivers, lakes ......... even some of our MRT tracks are underground incl ammo storage!

Paid $3 mio to tok cock!

Actually...i dun get wat he's trying 2 say too...what huge tracts of land? Goodness it all about getting the excess water out into the sea not build de greatest man make lake in the world to store it

 

[po2wq]

*deleted* ...

 

[sinren67]

Sometime i wonder the recent floods got something to do with the micro-management (design) of the drainage system.

The recent floods remind me of the documentary i watched (i think is Discovery Channel) on the rise and fall of Khmer (today's Cambodia) years ago. At that time, their irrigation system was sophisticated and advanced. In today's term, it's World Class. One thing to be noted; it needs large number of manpower to manage and maintain the world class irrigation system.

But becos of the corrupted govt and internal politics, many of the people who managed the sophisticated irrigation system fled and left. This had caused chaos and led to the fall of Khmer Kingdom. Thais took the advantage and conquered the Khmer without much effort.

It's always good to know the past history and take a leaf from it.

 

[po2wq]

SINGAPORE: Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Dr Yaacob Ibrahim said there are plans to implement drainage improvements to several major canals and drains.

Tenders for improvements to Bukit Timah First Diversion Canal and the downstream stretch of Rochor Canal1 will be called in the next three months.

Tenders for the upgrading of major drains along Thomson Road and MacPherson Road will be also called by the end of the year.

Works to improve the drainage system in the flood prone areas of Little India will start in the next few months.

He said Singapore has seen the occurrence of three intense rainfall events over the past month, caused by Sumatra squalls and the influence of Typhoon Conson, and aggravated by the prevailing La Nina conditions.

...

tok so much cok abt tender tis n tender dat ... r dey ze solns 2 ze prob? ...

wat exactly caused ze flooding? ... qualls, tyfiin n la nina r not causes ... dey may cause heavy rains ... but dey may not cause floods ...

no mention of orchard rd, tg katong, joo chiat ... gd luck ...

 

[SNAblog]

They have very thin skin to admit any wrong doing... because once they admit, they will have to quit.

They cannot use debris as an excuse again like before, and after running out of excuses, they can only blame it all on climate conditions. To them, as far as the drainage system is concerned, it is perfect.

I still think that they need an overhaul and a committee of inquiry is necessary for that purpose.

What happen if COI investigation found that the fault lies mainly with the Marina Barrage? That is the emperor's project, and it is inconceivable that his royal highness can be wrong.

 

[KNNBCCB]

Did you heard sinkiland flood 10 yrs ago ?

yahyahkob shud add 1 more excuse:
Gahmen bring in too many FTrash ahneh ah tiong making sinkiland cannot sustain the load. and sink and sink and sink...

knnbccb..

 

[3_M]

He can only do 2 things.

1. Divert the blame
2. Lower people's expectation.

 

[uncleyap]

<!-- message -->

Yaacob and PUB spent the entire weekend flipping through textbooks to come out with these excuses:

1. Heavy rainful due to "Sumatra squalls"
2. Influence of Typhon Conson
3. Prevailing La Nina conditons
4. France, China and Japan also got floods, Spore is an small island in the tropic, so must have flood

Did he apologized at the parliament?

Lame excuses to blame weather & compare with other countries.

Because JB & BATAM DID NOT FLOOD! And the ministers there only have about 1/10 th of his salaries!




famiLEE LEEgime = the best in Singapore Batam & JB - per PCK Singh.

:p

 

[uncleyap]

Did they issued life-jackets in the parliament?

In case water level Singapore river (next to parliament) rise up and flooded parliament -then how?