All major canals to be reviewed: Yaacob

Minister pledges to make public measures to be taken following Orchard flood probe
Goh Chin Lian Straits Times 20 Jun 10;

A thorough review of all major canals in Singapore will be carried out, following the massive Orchard Road flood last Wednesday.

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim, who asked the PUB to do the review, also promised yesterday to make public the measures to be taken arising from the current investigation into the flood.

'We are not going to leave any stone unturned,' he told reporters after chairing an annual general meeting of Malay self-help group Mendaki.

'I want to assure Singaporeans that we take this matter very seriously,' he added, a point he made three times during the interview.

His comments follow the PUB's explanation last Thursday and Friday for the cause of the flooding.

It said a culvert had become blocked by debris during a rainstorm and had directed water into one instead of two channels flowing under Orchard Road, in a drainage system known as the Stamford Canal.

Like PUB chief executive officer Khoo Teng Chye last Friday, Dr Yaacob described the debacle as 'totally unacceptable'. But he also defended Singapore's drainage system as sound and comprehensive.

In a full review of the drainage system three years ago after floods in Bukit Timah, hot spots were identified and improvements made.

The drains also 'worked perfectly' during the first of two heavy downpours that fateful morning, he said. The PUB's computation is that they could have taken the load from both downpours, had it not been for the blockage by the debris.

And most importantly, he said, the Marina Barrage, which was built to prevent high-tide waters from rushing in, also worked.

'When the rainfall came, we opened up six gates and the water flowed out. There was no flooding downtown. Had there not been a blockage, it would have been a very good system,' Dr Yaacob said.

The construction of new buildings in the Orchard area was not a contributing factor to the flood, as the PUB would have checked their building plans, he added.

He also gave the PUB due credit for its actions post-flood.

'I think the response by the PUB, by the agencies, has been commendable. We have done our best to help the businesses affected, the people affected.'

Asked about compensating their losses, estimated to be in the millions of dollars, he said: 'At the end of the day, we will continue to assist them as much as possible, and the PUB has gone out of its way to help them clear the water.'

The focus now is on learning from the episode and preventing such floods, said Dr Yaacob.

PUB's director of catchment and waterways, Mr Tan Nguan Sen, told The Sunday Times that following its immediate review of the Stamford Canal, the PUB will install additional gratings in the open drains upstream of the canal within a week, to trap debris during rain. It will install two or more water-level sensors along the canal as well.

Dr Yaacob said the PUB and the National Environment Agency will work with the cleaning contractors. Their contracts will be for five years, up from three, so that they have more reason to invest in new cleaning technology.

The PUB will also identify old buildings that are susceptible to floods but were built after flood alleviation measures were spelt out, he said.

In spelling out these measures, Dr Yaacob also left room for the vagaries of the weather. The two successive downpours were unexpected and not seen before, he said.

The key is to be alert - such as doing predictive modelling so that people on the ground can be warned ahead of time - and to improve along the way.

'Every new storm which is unique, that we have not seen, will throw up new challenges,' he said.

'These are the realities of living in a tropical climate.'

Only one underpass affected
Straits Times 20 Jun 10;

One end of the underpass links to Lucky Plaza, but luck was not on its side during the Orchard flood on Wednesday last week.

Of the three pedestrian underpasses in the Orchard-Scotts area, it was the only one that flooded.

The other two underpasses, between Tangs and Ion Orchard, and from Wheelock Place to Shaw House, were unaffected.

The 50m-long passageway linking Lucky Plaza and Ngee Ann City was built by the developers of Ngee Ann City in 1993.

A spokesman for PUB, the national water agency, attributed the flooding to the design of Lucky Plaza: 'As the building was built before 1984, it did not meet the PUB guideline that states that the entrances be 1m above the highest-known flood level.'

The entrance to the underpass at Ngee Ann City meets the guideline. PUB has been talking to the owners of Lucky Plaza on ways to upgrade the building to deal with any flooding. One possible weapon is a feature called a floodgate. When activated, a metal barrier serves to impede the flow of water.

A floodgate was used to stop the water in the underpass from entering Ngee Ann City.

'The floodgate at the underpass to Lucky Plaza was activated when the water level rose to 20mm on Wednesday morning,' said Ngee Ann Property Management deputy complex manager Chan Pei Chun.

Ngee Ann City first made sure nobody was using the underpass as the floodgate would prevent people from entering the building. The staircase leading to the underpass from the mall was also cordoned off.

The National Environment Agency said the cleanup in the underpass involved a team of five workers. The work started at about 8pm when most of the water had been pumped out. It was completed by 10pm.

The other two Orchard-Scotts underpasses, which follow the PUB guidelines, also have floodgates.

Another mall, Wisma Atria, also activated a floodgate located outside its Gap store. The mall has a

water-monitoring system in the canals under the road along the mall. The barrier is put up when sensors detect that the water level is high.

The Orchard MRT station was also kept dry. An SMRT spokesman said stations are designed in accordance with the flood-protection guidelines set by PUB.

Measures include building entrances at least 1m above flood levels. At Orchard MRT station, there is also a flight of stairs leading up from the Orchard sidewalk before one enters the station.

Sumita Sreedharan

Government to review canals across Singapore as part of efforts to prevent floods
Jeremy Koh Channel NewsAsia 19 Jun 10;

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

Business resumes at Delfi Orchard
Jamie Ee Wen Wei Straits Times 20 Jun 10;

The tenants at Delfi Orchard are now breathing easier. It was business as usual yesterday when The Sunday Times visited the building whose water pumps were damaged in last Wednesday's flood in Orchard.

Most of the shops were opened and tenants said they had a continuous supply of water, dousing fears that they would face a shortage.

Last Thursday, the building's management had informed tenants and residents that Delfi would 'run out of water very soon' because of the damage to the water pumps. Many businesses were forced to close the shutters that day as the air-conditioning system in the building had shut down.

But the smiles were back yesterday.

The air-con has been working since last Friday. An employee at Rocky Master cafe, who declined to be named, said it had 20 buckets of potable water from national water agency PUB, but did not have to use them. 'We anticipated a shortage in water but nothing like that happened,' she said.

Since last Thursday, PUB had deployed a high-pressure booster pump and officers to channel water into the building.

Yesterday, the carpark at basement level three was closed for cleaning. But the flood water, which was at ankle level last Friday, had been drained out.

The carpark at basement levels one and two was open. The building's staff said they were awaiting instructions from the management on when the carpark at basement level three would reopen. Tenants said this hiccup would not affect their business.

Ms Agnes Shum, who owns a fashion boutique, said: 'The building's management and the authorities have been very efficient and fast to react to the situation.'