By Leong Sze Hian
“I think the response by the PUB, by the agencies, has been commendable,” the Minister for Environment and Water Resources said on 20 June with regards to the flood at Orchard Road. “We have done our best to help the businesses affected, the people affected.”
So, after all that has happened, the PUB is to be commended?
Some of the losses may not be covered, or fully covered by insurance, and in a sense, every Singaporean may have to pay for it, as insurance premiums are likely to increase, leading to increased business costs, and possibly consumer prices.
In another Straits Times’ report [2], the Public Utilities Board (PUB) was asked “why there were no debris traps already installed in a known flood-prone area.” The PUB spokesman said the existing canal had been “serving us very well”.
So, we have spent more than two billion dollars to prevent floods, only to have the system fail, because a drain got choked, and the reason for not installing debris traps was because the system had been “serving us very well”?
This may become the mother of all examples, whenever we talk about complacency in Singapore!
On 18 June [3] experts criticised the PUB for outsourcing critical maintenance work. They also questioned its plans to install more sensors, among other things.
Why is there no response from the PUB to these criticisms and questions?
Why didn’t PUB make the plans or take any of the actions that it says it will take now in the immediate and long term, after last November’s floods at Bukit Timah?
What is perhaps glaringly missing, which no media reports have talked about, is that not a single person has so far said the word “sorry” for Singapore’s worse flooding in 26 years.
All we have been getting are all kinds of reasons as to why the system failed. Could it be that the system failed because the humans overseeing it were/are incompetent?
The PUB was reported to have also said: “During the downpour on June 16, one of the hotspots PUB was monitoring closely was the Bukit Timah area, which experienced massive flooding in November last year.
Lets not forget that on 16 June, Bukit Timah was also one of the areas which were flooded, despite the PUB “monitoring [it] closely”.
It seems that while keeping its eyes on Bukit Timah, the PUB was “caught off guard” by the situation in Orchard and it did not “realize there were problems at Stamford Canal.” And because of the deluge, the PUB then declared Orchard Road “a new flood hotspot.”
So, lets get this clear: The hotspot that PUB was not monitoring closely (Orchard) was flooded, and the hotspot that it was closely monitoring (Bukit Timah) was also flooded?
Don’t monitor – flood; monitor also flood?
Finally, we had spent an additional $226 million on the Marina Barrage project, which “was touted as being able to relieve flash floods.” So, it didn’t work? Why? I’m sure many Singaporeans like myself are awaiting with much anticipation for the reasons why the Bukit Timah and the Veerasamy Road areas were also flooded on the same day as Orchard Road.
Perhaps they too were caused by “choked drains”?
Or maybe it’s just another “freak event” which happens once in 50 years?
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References
[1]: All major canals to be reviewed: Yacoob, ST, Jun 20
[2]: Blocked drain blamed for Orchard Rd flood”, ST, Jun 18.
[3]: PUB’s work comes under scrutiny” (ST, Jun 18),
[4]: PUB chief executive says water agency caught off guard in Orchard Rd flood, Channel News Asia, Jun 19.
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Headline picture of 2009 Bukit Timah flood courtesy of http://haozor.blogspot.com
Orchard Road flood picture from Yahoo
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What’s the point of monitoring? By the definition of monitoring, it means to observe closely. PUB probably just watches and wait till the next flood. From there we will have an official who comes out and say “It’s nothing, here’s how it happens. Don’t worry, it will never happen again.” Indeed, PUB is probably the best example of complacency. I truly hope they would take action and not just saying empty rhetorics.
Monitoring may mean a warning system.
Guess Singapore MPs may not have the expanse of experience to find the proper technical name. Flood warning systems are on the internet. Its very interesting. You can have all kinds of warning systems–even for conflict/war etc etc.
I have a question.
Was the Marina Barrage’s gates opened up to alleviate the flooding?
Or did PUB was concentrating on Bukit Timah (because LKY and GCT lives there) and lost sight of Orchard Road? And thats why they didn’t open the gates.
And even if it was found out that Orchard Road was flooded….why PUB never mentioned about Marina Barrage? Was there a technical fault which they wish to cover up?
PUB’s woes are not so difficult to solve. However, they require good planning, design and execution which seems to be lacking in the organization.
By PUB’s admisssion, sensors are not installed along the Stamford Canal (Orchard Road). Sensors were installed along the Bukit Timah Canal, following the major flood in Nov 2009. The problem is that PUB is still thinking of an early warning system, whereby people can be warned of an impending (flash) flood. Whatever for?
We need an active system whereby the rising water levels are detected and fed to the Marina Barrage directly to PREVENT any flash flood in the first place. It is quite amazing that this requirement is not designed into the $200+ million Marina Barrage project.
There must also be mechanical isolation between the buildings and the canals. Some drainage systems flow directly into the PUB canals. The water must not be allowed to backflow into the buildings. This was the cause of the problems observed in the recent Orchard Road. Yet PUB is comtemplating enhanced legislation to prevent direct rain water from getting into buildings. That’s barking up the wrong tree!!
For one thing that we do know, Yaakob was sidestepping the question when asked whether PUB is compensating the shopowners for their losses.
What exactly does he mean when he said “We have done our best to help the businesses affected, the people affected”?
What’s the meaning of doing your best when it’s of no direct help to those affected businesses who suffered losses due to the oversight or negligence of PUB ?
It would be an entirely different matter if the Minister were to say that a say S$10 million compensation fund will be set aside to compensate those affected ?
Why is PUB not offering any compensation when it is clear that it’s poor drainage system is to be blamed for the recent floods at Orchard Rd ?
Is PUB getting away scot-free with murder committed, literally ?
Hopefully some experts would explain to us what they meant by installing more sensors. How would that help? Take Bukit Timah as an example. Lets say when the water reach certain level, what do they do; open certain barrages? My question is why close them in the first place? We are not Netherlands; our grounds are above sea level. Simple engineering is great engineering. If the system has sufficient capacity and well maintained, such floods would not have happened. Granted that things can go wrong at times but to brush it aside by saying that it only happens once every 50 years is totally irresponsible!
Maybe PUB used similar method for the monitoring
http://www.weirdasianews.com/2008/07/26/guards-go-stiff-at-local-army-base/
Just because nothing has happened they presumed it will not happen. Easy money, sit back, relax and wait for that something to happen. Then past the buck and put the blame squarely on other people or things. After the whole fiasco is over, self-pat and commend that his ministry has done Singapore proud – forget about the 50 years freaky event – let’s take one step at a time to learn on-the-job while continue to draw astronaumical pay.
ONCE EVERY 50-YEARS FREAK FLOOD BUT IS AT DIFFERENT LOCATION.
THIS ”ONCE EVERY 50-YEARS FREAK FLOOD” CAN BE USED FOREVER N EVER COS IS AT DIFFERENT LOCATION.
Don’t monitor – flood; monitor also flood?
Monitor – flood.
Don’t monitor – flood even more.
Looks like they are monitoring the actual flood levels instead of monitoring to prevent the flood itself!
Maybe this time Yaacob will say it is a once in 500 years event???!!
I wonder what’s next, which dept is going to buckle.
One after the other. PAP leadership standards are super poor and the scholars sitting up there are all just planning to be the next MP and minister.
I hope our dear government allow me to say a few words of fairness. Since the ministers are supposed to have helicopter vision, why are they so highly elevated yet cannot see choking canals. Our ministers are one of the highest paid in the world but still cannot prevent a flood like this which could cause investment confident to fall significantly.
Since high salary does not motivate ministers to do their job well, may I suggest that they draw comparable salaries with our Asean ministers.
i wonder if any failure on the relevent ageny’s part or govt body will be used as an excuse to increase the cost of living. not just this flood but any other failure/s that may occur in future.
anyone care to guess?
lol…
Am I back to the time tunnel of the mid 1960s?
Then I was in ACS at Baker Road and I seem my fare share of floodings. But in the mid 80′s I read of the drainage built and till the day I emigrated in 1991, I could did not hear of a single flood.
Everyhing was OK.
Then the brainchild of Lee Kuan Yew …the Marina Bay comes into operation. Singapore is now back to the 1960s.
If the next time Jalan Besar, Little India, Geyland and Chinatown are added to the list of flooded area together with Bukit Timah and Orchard Road, then it will be a good show….expecially if it happens in the late Saturday afternoon till midnight for few hours.
Let’s help the PUB and the govt. with some excuses:
1. We are caught off guard by heavy rain and high tide and clog drains at the same time. NO one can design a system to prevent such a flood. We got to live with it.
2. Don’t be a nation of complainer, let’s move on.
3. More good years!
4. The people is partly to be blamed. They must not litter the drains and they must act like inspectors to report any drainage brokerage to PUB.
5.This is a BEST excuse and SOLUTION:
“A new law will be passed to stop complaining and news reporting about folldings in Singapore and that will stop all further floodings!”
After that, MM Lee will go to China and USA and say:”In Singapore we have solved our flooding problem. We have no flooding. Show me the flooding.”
PUB better wake up. It is no longer freak events. Due to global warming it is going to be frequent happenings.
The excuses we are getting nowadays just don’t add up to the high salaries our “Best Men” are getting.
They opened the flood gates to foreigners, and despite “inflows being calibrated” (Ms Quah Ley Hoon, Director of NPS, 29 Aug 2009) we suddenly found that 37% of the population is foreign. Up to now, no minister has dared come out & explain how this ‘foreign flood’ occurred. So, what is the point of monitoring anything if the event to be prevented still occurs?
PUB & Minister of EWR needs to come up with better scripts. Ok, now Bukit Timah (district 10) and Orchard Road (district 9) are being monitored. What about the heartland areas where elites can’t be found? The other 26 districts? As Mr Tony Hayward CEO of BP said, are these the “small people” that somehow matters especially near election time?
The Japanese have a work philosophy that says that all problems are man-caused or man-mistakes. By identifying the person who failed to ensure the faultless functioning of the system, the Japs implement the famous Mistake proofing or Poka Yoke system. So accordingly, if we cannot identify the Man-Mistake, we therefore will never solve this problem.
I cannot help but think that there is a cover up somewhere. It was reported, and elaborated with diagrams in the newspaper that the debris that causes the choke was found at the canal at Orchard Parade Hotel. Yet, the the worst impacted area was at the junction of Orchard/Scotts Road, which is down stream of the reported debris-choked area. Even if the chokage causes all the rainwater to be channeled into one canal which overflows, the water should be able to drain off to the other canal downstream of the choke point. Does it means that there is no outlet for those drains around Dynasty Hotel and Lucky Plaza area, into the alternative canal? Cannot be!
Hence it is highly suspicious that there is either other choke point downstream from the Orchard/Scotts Road junction, or something with the Marina Barrage.
The talk is that the MB is the brainchild of you-know-who and therefore cannot be associated with any failure.
“I think the response by the PUB, by the agencies, has been commendable,
huh ? huh ? huh ? by detecting a choked drain after the flood subsided without further subsequent heavy rain ????
It was commendable of PUB to admit their failure in maintaining the drains adequately. But the Minister was grossly irresponsible when his initial reaction to the flooding was to push the blame to the worst rainfall in 50 years – something that the PUB “refuted” by saying that current drainage system was more than adequate to meet such a rainfall.
I wonder if the Minister felt embarrassed by his “push-the-buck” attitude. It would if I were him!
simply put:
when something bad happens, blame everyone, everything, except themselves.
if a proper apology is given, seriously, i will let the matter rest as its the act of a gentleman.
but no.
The solution is to pay those civil servants more, so that they will be more on the ball and not be so complacent. It is taxpayers fault that we pay them too little and do not encourage them to think out of the box. Our apologises.
Is this what happens when they monitor?
2 guys sitting there staring at the canal.
GUY 1: Eh, look, it’s filling with water!
GUY 2: Okay.
*just watches the water level rise*
GUY 1: Eh, I think the water is a bit too high already leh.
GUY 2: Alamak.
*continues watching the water level rise*
THEY MONITORED THE FLOOD WHAT! JUST LOOK AT IT ALSO CALLED MONITOR.
our state is a tiny red dot and having a government with the highest pay.Each time when problems crop up,they will keep mumb leaving it to the lower level to explain to the people.When the dust is settled,fully aware no risks will befall on them,then they’ll come out from their cosy hiding to face the “press”.We,citizens should wake up immediately and don’t let them treat us as morons.Our fate lies in our hands,not them as they’re more concerned with their self serving interests.
SO PUB, WHERE’S THE PROOF?
A PICTURES IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS
We have been monitoring our TFR (birth rate) for the past 40+ years, since the stop-at-2 blitz. LHL even seems very happy that all the monitoring has discovered that we have 3 dips for the 3 cycles of Tiger years (surely a Nobel Prize-caliber discovery). So still collecting data & waiting for the 4th cycle, huh? Hey, whichever the STUPID minister(s) in charge, are you like Tony Hayward (BP CEO) taking time off to ‘monitor’ yacht races?
@kixes, 22 June 2010
I think it is like before going into the toilet, ‘monitored’ & noted that there is INSUFFICIENT toilet paper, then still go in and s***.
wah! pattin itself 1 back..while damages already been done? hello ministers don’t talk TOO LOUD lark..asked hoching to donate $400 million$ from temasek inc other expenses account4 lark to help little shopkeepers who are affected deepLEE/dipLEE…
we didn’t pay them millions to monitor.
We pay them millions in the expectation that things work well.
Which is evidently not the case.
Yaacob is running in a circle chasing after his own tail.
another “fruitful” year with bountiful goof-ups to laugh about at the end of the year, under the current leadership.
i think the further GE drags on, the more failures will surface, drag loh. more fodder for opposition parties.
moral of the story:
what goes up must come down. PAP must have reached its peak, & now on an irreversible decline?
Flood and freak incidents will continue to happen.. Why? Because pub, like our ministers are not accountable to singaporeans.. If we singaporeans want something done, we need to provide competition to the pap run govt.. So use your vote wisely..
If singapore, such a super small country can have floods, despite its full development, can anyone expect other countries not to have floods given their gigantic size need to be managed?
For a small place, it should be easier to manage.
I say we should expect not just 1st world standard but also World Record in this aspect becos we have many World Records.
We are dealing with “freaks”. The word “sorry” is not in their vocabulary.
It is good to Monitor so that there will be (at least) no MORE EXCUSES, blaming here and there… though flood is ACT OF GOD… better rain than hopefully not BECOMING DESERT SAFARI then have to ‘cry’ for rainfall….
Accountability!
is there some people out there trying to confuse “act of god” vs “act of nature”?
PAP is not S’pore you know…. -.-”
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