Managing flash floods is PUB's priority: CEO

Joanne Chan Channel NewsAsia 24 Dec 11;

SINGAPORE: PUB's new chief executive is no stranger to water security.

As navy chief, Chew Men Leong played a pivotal role as guardian of Singapore's coastal waters. Now, as PUB chief executive, he is now in charge of the country's precious resource - water.

He said: "One of the important focus here in PUB is how to strike a balance between maintaining our complex system at a high level of operational effectiveness and efficiency, while keeping an eye on the long term future.

"In this aspect, I have, in some sense, a good level of experience in the navy that also deals with the same kind of balancing."

44-year-old Mr Chew joined PUB as its designated head in July, calling it "a rather exciting time."

He said: "We just handed over the infrastructure back to Malaysia, under the 1961 water agreement. And that in itself is quite an important event because it shows that as we handed over the infrastructure, the impact to our water supply is minimal. And that shows that we have been able to ensure water sustainability going forward."

With the trail of damage in the Orchard Road floods of 2010 still fresh in the minds of Singaporeans, Mr Chew knows he is taking on a hot seat.

He recalled being "a little bit surprised" when he first heard news of the floods.

He said: "Since I came into PUB, I have a better understanding of what we have done previously. The amount of effort that PUB has actually taken to help alleviate floods and make Singapore generally flood-free... I think it's important to understand that we have been relatively successful.

"But maybe we have also become victims of own success. Because we have been so successful, alleviating floods, that we have not seen a flood situation for a long time. So when it came, it did catch Singaporeans by surprise.

"But more important, we are learning the lessons from this particular episode, applying it, and seeing how we can improve upon it, working with all our stakeholders."

Mr Chew said the key to managing such a situation is getting information out as quickly as possible. And in the longer term, the country's drainage system has to be beefed up to deal with changing weather patterns.

He said: "Right now, we want to focus on improving our current infrastructure. And I think that is something that will take three to five years. At least, basically to cope with the increased rainfall intensity. But we will keep eye out in the future... The next two to three decades, to look at the scenarios we could possibly face.

"One of the measures we have started taking is to raise the reclamation levels by one metre. That actually is a measure in anticipation of potential changes that could come from adjustments in our climate."

Mr Chew has also set his sights on ensuring that Singapore continues to build self-sufficiency in water. This means growing the country's national taps - raising NEWater and desalination production to 50 per cent and 30 per cent respectively, and increasing Singapore's catchment area to cover 90 per cent by 2060.

-CNA/ac

This December the wettest in 4 years: NEA
Wayne Chan Channel NewsAsia 24 Dec 11;

SINGAPORE : The National Environment Agency (NEA) has said this December is the wettest in four years.

The total rainfall recorded for December 2011, as at 4pm on December 23, is 274.4 millimetres.

That is higher than the total rainfall recorded in December in the previous three years - 181.4 millimetres in 2010, 189.8 millimetres in 2009 and 244.2 millimetres in 2008.

NEA said the long-term average rainfall for December is 287.4 millimetres.

The highest total monthly rainfall recorded in December was 765.9 millimetres in 2006.

The highest one-day rainfall recorded in December was 512.4 millimetres in 1978.

As at 5.30 pm on Friday, the highest total rainfall recorded was 155.6 millimetres at Orchard Road.

From 2.20pm to 5.20pm, a total of 152.8 millimetres of rain fell.

The rain was heaviest between 4pm and 5pm, where 66.2 millimetres was recorded at Orchard Road.

The latest weather reports, including heavy rain warnings, are available through the NEA website; NEA's iPhone App (myEnv); NEA's mobile weather service at Weather@SG (weather.nea.gov.sg); Twitter via @NEAsg; the weather forecast hotline at 6542 7788; and radio broadcasts.

- CNA/ms

Retailers bracing for wet Christmas after Friday's flash floods
Nurul Syuhaida Channel NewsAsia 24 Dec 11;

SINGAPORE: Singapore retailers are bracing for a wet Christmas. This comes after flash floods hit several parts of the country's shopping belt, Orchard Road on Friday.

The National Environment Agency had warned of wet weather from December 24 to 26 due to a monsoon surge in the region.

On Friday, Liat Towers was affected by floodwaters due to prolonged heavy rain, though not as seriously as in 2010 as floodgates had mitigated the impact somewhat.

Channel NewsAsia has learnt that floodgates were not the problem for this building.

Jwee Quek, product manager of Parafoil, the company which worked on the floodgates, said: "The floodgates that we installed at Liat Towers here is to prevent water settling at the walkway from going into Liat Towers. At about 3pm yesterday, the floodgates were already activated.

"It is a problem with the drain beside the building, where water in the drain could not get out to Stamford Canal. So it actually overflowed into the basement."

Seng Woon Fa, marketing & branding manager at Wendy's, said: "We are quite disappointed because it had happened many times. I think this could be the second worst. We hope that the building management as well as the authorities can work out the real issue."

National water agency PUB said the ponding at Liat Towers was caused largely by the prolonged heavy rain which fell directly into the building's outdoor area. It added that area is designed as a sunken plaza and the primary means to drain water away there is through pumping.

PUB said its officers will work with the building management to review and improve its internal drainage system.

In the interim, some outlets have installed secondary flood barriers provided by the building management at their entrances. But retailers said it takes some time to set up these barriers and they will not be of much help if a flash flood occurs.

Over at Lucky Plaza, there were also similar scenes of cleaning up.

Flash flood are nothing new to retailers there and they have again called on their building management to be more responsive to the problem.

"The sandbags were not here. It's only today that the management sent some people to put the sandbags... It was quite chaotic. We had no time to think of what to do and the only way was to sweep water away from our shop," said one of the retailers.

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

The public can also call the PUB's 24-hour Call Centre at 1800-2846600 or go to PUB's Facebook Page or PUB's iPhone app, iPUBOne, to report flash floods or to check on the flood situation.

The public can also get updates on water level information in key canals/drains at PUB's Facebook Page, via Twitter at twitter.com/PUBSingapore, or through PUB's website.

For the latest weather reports, including heavy rain warnings, members of the public can call the National Environment Agency's (NEA) weather forecast hotline at 6542 7788, visit the NEA website or use the mobile weather service, Weather@SG.

SMS alert services on heavy rain warning and water level information are also open to public subscription at pub.gov.sg.

-CNA/ac


Floods again? Shops seek answers
Orchard Rd deluge hits some retailers' takings although damage 'minimal' this time
Huang Lijie Straits Times 25 Dec 11;

The morning after flash floods hit Orchard Road, affected retailers were still turning customers away while workers were busy mopping up the mess.

At Liat Towers, where flood waters flowed into Hermes on Friday evening, the luxury retailer remains shuttered, until further notice.

Its neighbours, Wendy's fast- food chain and coffee chain Starbucks took yesterday morning to clean up before welcoming customers at around noon, while fashion store Massimo Dutti was open by 10am.

All three stores were at least ankle-deep in water on Friday when heavy rain overwhelmed these basement shops, despite flood barriers being activated in front of the building and the individual shops. The barriers were installed after Orchard Road was hit by its worst flood in June last year.

Wendy's threw out food in keeping with food hygiene practices while workers replaced soaked carpet pieces at Starbucks.

A spokesman for Starbucks said the damage this time was 'minimal' compared to last June's, and the outlet was reopened after it was cleaned, sanitised and assessed by a National Environment Agency officer.

Shops said their takings on the crucial last two days before Christmas were hit. Wendy's was estimated to have lost about 60 per cent in sales due to its temporary closure during the Friday dinner rush.

At Lucky Plaza, sandbags placed near the basement entrance did not stop shops in the basement from being flooded to about ankle-high.

While few shops had their goods damaged this time - store assistants were quick to move goods to higher ground - they suffered a loss in business of between 20 and 60 per cent.

Mr John Lim, manager of a jewellery shop at Lucky Plaza and in his mid-30s, said: 'This is not the first time the flood has happened and we have given feedback to the building management every time, but with limited success.'

The management committee of Lucky Plaza could not be reached but The Sunday Times understands that it is in the process of getting a contractor to implement flood prevention measures.

Retailers are upset that the slew of flood prevention measures introduced since last year's flash floods failed to stave off a repeat of the incident.

Mr Seng Woon Fa, 37, marketing and branding manager of Wendy's, said: 'We are quite disappointed because it has happened so many times. We hope that the building management and the authorities can work out the real issues.'

He added that the cause of the floods at Liat Towers may not be due to the inadequacy of the barricades but other drainage issues.

Liat Tower's estate management declined to comment.

National water agency PUB said it is working with the affected buildings' managers to find out how to help them to install more flood protection measures.

It raised a stretch of low-lying road between Orange Grove Road and Cairnhill Road in June, which it says has helped to prevent rainwater from overflowing from the canal onto the road and increased the canal's capacity. It attributed Friday's floods to prolonged heavy rain that fell directly into Liat Towers' open basement area.

Mr Steven Goh, executive director of the Orchard Road Business Association, said an expert panel formed by the Government should 'give an answer' on why the flood happened even though measures had been put in place.

He said an SMS flood alert by the authorities around 5pm on Friday indicated that the water level in the Stamford Canal near Orchard Tower had risen above 90 per cent, which was 'a dangerous level', even if PUB maintains that the canal did not overflow.

A panel of 12 local and international experts was set up in June to look into the floods. It is expected to convene next month to finalise its report, which will be submitted to the ministry.

Shoppers in Orchard Road were undeterred by the possibility of floods occurring again due to the wet weather forecast.

Ms Sylvia Tee, 27, a sales administrator who visited the Massimo Dutti store at Liat Towers yesterday afternoon, said: 'I had to take the chance because I still have last-minute Christmas shopping to do and Orchard Road has more variety of shops.'

Additional reporting by Feng Zengkun

PUB on track to completing flood sensor network
Evelyn Choo Channel NewsAsia 24 Dec 11;

SINGAPORE: National water agency PUB is on track to completing its network of flood sensors in Singapore's drainage system. This year alone, it added 57 more sensors in flood-prone areas - bringing the total number to 150.

Along with newly-installed CCTV cameras, this will allow the agency to handle and monitor flood situations more effectively.

Subscribers to PUB's Water Level Alert Service will receive a message when the water level at certain canals hit 50 per cent. Alerts are also sent when levels progressively reach 75 per cent, 90 per cent and eventually, 100 per cent.

The alert service, which started out as a pilot project for the agency's own use, is now an effective communication tool for many who live or work near canals and waterways.

The free service started in July this year and has garnered more than 2,000 subscribers to date.

Contractors were given the challenging task of installing the water level sensors within three months.

Wilson Tan, sales manager at Linkwise Technology, the company contracted by PUB to install the water level sensor monitoring system, said: "First, it's the short time frame. Secondly it's the weather, because it's very much a weather-dependent system. So we need to set up more teams to do the installation concurrently."

The network of sensors were installed as part of enhanced measures to prevent floods in Singapore. This came about after the country experienced one of its worst flooding in 2010, which left parts of Singapore's shopping belt Orchard Road under water.

In 2010, one area in Commonwealth was badly affected by flash floods, with water levels rising up to the kerb. That is why PUB installed a CCTV camera system last month to monitor the situation in real time and more closely from its headquarters.

Choy Wai Kwong, assistant director of the Catchment & Waterways Department at PUB, said: "Once we get the images from the CCTV... we can redeploy our staff from other sites to this site. And once we get confirmation that there is ponding or flooding there, we can inform the public of a situation in this area."

Following a trial which saw six cameras installed along Bukit Timah in central Singapore in January 2011, PUB has since expanded the initiative and is installing 55 CCTVs in other flood-prone areas.

They are being tested and will be fully commissioned by the end of December 2011.

-CNA/ac