Jo-ann Huang Channel NewsAsia 4 May 11;
SINGAPORE: Flash floods occurred in at least six locations around Ang Mo Kio and Bishan in mid-afternoon on Thursday.
According to the PUB, the national water agency, the floods were caused by heavy and intense rain over many parts of Singapore.
About 90mm of rain fell in less than one hour between 3pm and 4pm. The amount of rainfall is approximately more than 50% of the average monthly rainfall for May.
PUB says the flash floods subsided within 20 minutes.
Some ground-floor shopkeepers in Ang Mo Kio said they had to scramble to keep the floodwaters out of their premises.
Even regular customers like Shi Jun Wen, who was at a Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic at that time, were roped in to help.
But a small step in front of the clinic at Block 330, Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 had kept the floods at bay.
Mr Shi said the water would have entered the clinic if the downpour had continued beyond 4pm.
He said: "In my experience, I have never seen such heavy rain. It was so heavy that I had to grab some towels to keep the shopfront dry, because we have furniture and beds to protect from the water. But I have never seen anything like this (before)."
- CNA/ir
PUB issues flash flood warning
Channel NewsAsia 4 May 11;
SINGAPORE: The MET Services extended its heavy rain warning on Wednesday.
It said thundery showers with gusty winds over many areas of Singapore are expected to last between 4 and 5.15pm.
PUB, the national water agency, reported earlier on flash floods at Bishan Street 13, in front of Kuo Chuan Presbyterian School have subsided.
Floods are also reported in several areas in Ang Mo Kio.
- CNA/ck
Flash floods hit Bishan, Ang Mo Kio
Jalelah Abu Baker & Cassandra Chew Straits Times 5 May 11;
FLASH floods hit certain parts of Ang Mo Kio and Bishan yesterday - the first time these areas have been hit in recent years. But the water subsided within 20 minutes.
PUB, the national water agency, said the junction of Ang Mo Kio Avenues 3 and 8, and Bishan Street 13 were affected after about 90mm of rain fell between 3pm and 4pm. This amount of rainfall is approximately more than half the average monthly rainfall for May, but traffic was still passable on the affected roads.
Asked yesterday, Environment and Water Resources Minister Yaacob Ibrahim said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had called him about the floods as Ang Mo Kio is his constituency.
'I told PM, I'm sorry it happened again, it's not something that we planned for. What is important to me is that PUB was there quickly... to assist any affected residents or motorists, and the water subsided very quickly,' he said on the sidelines of a community event yesterday evening.
He said PUB has been on standby because of the inter-monsoon period, and that improvement works are being done in the affected Ang Mo Kio areas and will be completed by the year end.
The heavy, intense rain yesterday also led to water spilling into an underground walkway from Yio Chu Kang MRT station to Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP), in Ang Mo Kio Avenue 8.
Mr Chua Zong Sheng, a recent graduate of NYP who had wanted to use the link, was shocked. 'I've never seen this area flooded in my three years here.' The 1.75m-tall 20-year- old estimated that the water would have reached his knees.
An NYP spokesman said she understood that the water cleared within half an hour after the rain subsided.
In a warning on its website yesterday, the National Environment Agency (NEA) had said heavy thundery showers with gusty winds were expected over many areas of Singapore between 4.10pm and 5.15pm. The warning included PUB's message that flash floods could occur in low-lying areas in the event of heavy rain. But a PUB spokesman said it did not receive any reports of such incidents in Orchard Road and Bukit Timah, which were in the news last year for being flooded.
Car broker Keith Tok, 32, who was in Ang Mo Kio Industrial Park 2 to service his car, said he had to wait 45 minutes for the water to subside at about 4.30pm. He said of the brown water covering the road and up to half the height of a car's tyres: 'The workshop guys were saying it came from a choked drain nearby.'
More afternoon showers with thunder are expected in the next three days. An NEA spokesman said the recent rainy spell is because of strong convection due to heating up of land areas in the day, and is typical of the current inter-monsoon season.
When asked if the flash floods yesterday would affect how people vote on Saturday, Dr Yaacob said: 'We are learning as we go along, and I hope Singaporeans understand we will try to improve as we go along, and how best we can do, we have to wait and see.'
He said that by the end of the year, PUB would have installed about 150 sensors in the drainage system to monitor water levels.
