Latest:
More pictures of Wednesday’s flood on Yahoo.
From this website:
Most prominent area that suffered from this heavy rainfall is known as Orchard Road and intersection of Scotts Road and Orchard Road is showing a scene of a river as height of rain water in this area is around half of meter. Shops of Hermes and Starbucks affected a lot with this rain water as Liat Towers’ basement also suffered with it and a lot of water is still seen there.
Several vehicles along with many passengers can still be seen struck up on the roads as they can not be moved due to heavy rain water. Traffic lights are also not working in many intersections of the affected area. According to the latest reports, shops located at Bukit Timah and Serene Centre also affected.
Though Orchard Road is considered as the most affected but several other areas of central Singapore also affected with this heavy rainfall in which Veerasamy Road, Kheam Hock Road, Kings Road, Fourth Avenue and Coronation Road West are included.
Around 100 mm rainfall has been recorded today on Wednesday between 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM in Singaporewhich is not a usual rainfall as average rainfall in the month of June is considered as 40 mm.
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From the Straits Times:
A tree fell near the Buyong Road exit of the Central Expressway Tunnel, towards Ayer Rajah Expressway, blocking traffic across three lanes. The CTE was closed as a result, partly to prevent traffic from going into Orchard Road.
Other parts of central Singapore, including Coronation Road West, Fourth Avenue, Kings Road, Kheam Hock Road and Veerasamy Road were also affected, bringing traffic to a crawl.
PUB, in a statement issued on Wednesday afternoon, said almost 100 mm of rain fell within a two-hour period from about 9 am to 11 am. ‘The amount of rainfall is approximately more than 60 per cent of the average monthly rainfall for June,’ it said.
PUB, Traffic Police and SCDF officers were at the various sites providing help to motorists and directing traffic. The PUB advises the public to exercise caution as flash floods may still occur in the event of heavy storms. The cause of the flood is still being investigated.
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TOC’s original report this morning:
Postings on social networking site Facebook are saying that Orchard Road is flooded. The incident has also been reported by the Today newspaper’s Twitter feeds.
Netizens are saying that vehicles have broken down and that firefighters have been seen in the area.
In November 2009, parts of Bukit Timah was submerged, causing “flood waters [to rise] knee-high, partially submerging ground-floor buildings and cars and causing untold damage.” (Straits Times)
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim said then, “What happened was very unusual… The intensity was tremendous.”
The minister called it a “freak” event which happens “once in 50 years”.
“It is not possible… to plan for every event. Thursday’s weather… occurs once in 50 years,” he said. “If we design for the largest rainfall or highest tide, then we are going to have huge canals in Singapore.” (Asia One)
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Visit TOC’s Facebook page for more.
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Read also: “Why Orchard Road will never flood” by The New Paper (1999).
Here is a picture from http://yfrog.com/ju3jij of this morning’s flood at Orchard Road.
Videos of the deluge:
The funny side, by Chia Han Keong:
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jokes aside…i am a serious bloke when flood is concerned..lives will be LOST
imagined this scenerio i just saw the cartoon addin in lucky plaza buildin with the thais loykrathong longboat thrownin…water festivals indeed…
ok let me tell you from EXPERIENCED…
when water overun..it hit assumin it lucky plaza…lucky plaza hav basements or not? which buildin in orchard road got no basements? it flood..water and electricity are never friends..it electrified..when its buzz and zzuzzz
its becomes a weapon..how many would be electrocuted to death? now imagined what happened if myviews and his friend rw were to go shoppin in lucky plaza parkin their benzie and bmw in the basement..suddenLEE flood water overflow..causin sudden electrocution…
and imagined this scenerio..lets assumed myviews brin his mum to goe shoppin for a gift for rw’s dad(don’t asked me why..)
who in turn was tryin to buy a box of chokolate for myviews’s sister(don’t asked me why again..this internal relationships very very complicated..more complicated than leekuanyews’ famiLLEE…
my views & rw bein a younger and stronger persons tend to siam faster but their feeble ole father/mother is not that fast nor possess the panda flyin kungfu stance were to get caught and electrified till death do them part..ps..myviews/rw DO NOT ASSUMED you can get insurance compensation from lucky plaza managment..remembered both of you did says its an ACT of GOD..(leekuanyew’s law decree insurance companies are NOT liable for such ^FREAK^ and sudden accidents….)
so who is goin to pay for the funeral xpenses? thinkin you both gonna get your parents’ cpf norminations?
think bout it..do you see me LAUGHIN out LOUD?
Ya lor…cannot blame MIWs
we need a new MINISTER FOR UNDERGROUND DRAINS
It is good that something like this happened in Singapore and I don’t mean to add salts to the injured.
My sympathy goes to those affected by the flood.
The people of Singapore have been muffled by the state controlled media for too long and instances like this will provide them with some serious thoughts.
The government is not always right and nobody dares to question the leader.
Lee Kuan Yew went too far in his greed to ‘Control’.
He uses his knuckles duster very easily on the people but this time, he failed to control the nature’s flow.
He spent so much money in building the Barrage to control the drainage outflow to the sea and it seems to have failed for all to witness in this Great Singapore Flood.
Why I said a failure?
The design of the Barrage provides automatic activations to close or open the gates when the desired volume (capacity) of water is captured.
Now with this freak … or if you like… 50-Year once flood, the gates will have to be reset to energise at a lower capacity… at least 50% off the original design to be on the safe side.
Is the money well spent?
Another issue along this water line…The Waste Water Treatment Plant.
It is still too early to know the side effects on humans drinking chemically treated sewage water.
Another freak crisis could be along the way….What if the main sewage pipe got choked?
Not only the drains and canals will have the backflow of the shits….your toilets at home will be flooded with shits!
Last but not the least, the effects of overcrowding Singapore with artificial population growth and the Casinos related crimes and behaviours will be felt and witnessed not in the lifetime of both the Father and the Son.
AMAZING !
How can this happen when $millions were spend to prevent flooding in this flood prone area ?
This is a world famous shopping area !
We cannot stop the rain but this should not be allowed to reach and damage the shops or car parks.
Haven’t they hear of water pumps ! ! !
I think water pumps should be on standby from now on so that when the water level is just rising, the pumps can be used to minimize damage.
It’s not the rain or the pump.
The Marina Barrage is designed to collect all the drain and canal water.
The Dam was full and the Gate wasn’t activated to open therefore all the water flowed back.
You can pump the water out into the drains but it cannot go to the sea because the drainage outlet to the sea is closed.
Where is our million dollar forecaster?
The minister called it a “freak” event which happens “once in 50 years”.
Haha… ! Open mouth, stick foot in. PAP ministers tasting a lot of their own feet lately.
Never laughed so much since Seinfeld ended. Schadenfreude! Just imagining all the BMWs and Mercs stuck in muddy water makes me smile. Hope Oxley drive is flooded too.
@iamaGOOGLEbuttonman
Hi,
I’m surprise you bother keeping track of who commented what.
Is there anything factually or logically wrong in what I say…or is it just not ‘anti-govt’ enough for you?
You do realize while I said the govt cannot control the weather and it’s not cost efficient to build a maze of drains for weather that happens 4 times in 10 years (according to Fact Check)– there are things the govt CAN and SHOULD do. You, yourself, have quoted those things that I pointed out that the govt is lacking and should do better.
Not everyone has a simple ‘govt sux’ template which they copy and paste into comments of every article. Others prefer to look at issues objectively and be constructive in criticizing where the govt should improve. Maybe it’s not as fiery, entertaining or satisfying- but it’s a matter of choice and style lah.
Plus, there are so many people online who are already like that, simply chanting ‘Govt sux’– what is the value in having one more person joining in the chorus? Life will be so uninteresting if everyone sings the same song in every post!
RW
p.s. it’s rude to ‘curse’ people’s parents dying, even in imaginary situations. Basic respect lah, regardless how we differ in opinion. Thx.
Yacob, Mah Bow Tan, and Lee Kuan Yew need to be fired.
It took us more than ten years to discover the Newpaper’s 1999 boast of the super-canal at Orchard Road is nothing but hogwash.
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What else lies beneath the untested infrastructures built with the same boast that they can and will withstand such natural calamities?
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We are paying our million dollar ministars based on these sort of boasts?
OK, I just read some of the comments here and I see quite a few touchy ones asking that we do not blame the government for this event, and maybe, just maybe, they may be right this time.
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Let us blame the foreign workers then. Must be those weekend Filipinos who flood to Orchard Road week in and week out. The garbage they throw into our drains must be the reason why our big canal at Orchard Road is all clogged up, causing the flood.
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There, now we can go back to sleep and stop blaming the government – DAMN! Foreigners! Come and destroy the good image and reputation of our internationally renown Orchard Road.
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Having said that, we have no choice but to blame the government for bringing in these foreign workers. See, the blame STILL falls back on the government.
Looks like the explanation of “freak” flooding every 50 years needs to be reviewed. Otherwise, remember the ministers are working with “averages” – if we have 2 “freak” floods in less than a year, then for the next 99 years there should be no “freaks”. Of course the minister(s) will be happy to admit any misleading – after another 99 years while collecting their pay in meantime.
Again, working with “averages”, of course can say the flooding was due to 60% more than average rainfall (blah, blah, blah…). This is the easy way out for any explanation. But is the system designed for “averages” or SHOULD be designed for say 90-110% of the highest/WORST case on records? E.g. if power generation capacity is based on “averages”, then we would have blackout 50% of the times!
Really, no one is saying planning an efficient infrastructure is easy, but if ministers can’t even give an honest answer to increasingly frequent cock-ups (e.g. recent freak “advertisement” on MRT carriages) or justify their way-above “averages” salaries, then we will keep having “freaks”. Unfortunately in Singapore lingo, these are sometimes cleverly referred to as the ‘Best Man’ (aka demanding best pay) for the job.
While the workforce is being paid peanuts for a superman’s job (aka no life balance), are we paying our ministers million$ for a monkey’s performance? Which minister wants to stand up now & take responsibility? Or “freak” incident, so no need for accountability, lah??
@theonlinecitizen, 16 June 2010
“…Pls don’t blame the government for the Orchard flood. The drains are all underground…”
I beg to differ on your above view. We are talking our iconic Orchard Road here not some Area D or E.
While there has always been detractors of Singapore’s success as compared to other countries becos’ due to size, that we should be compared instead on a city-to-city basis, so now we should compare grade A with grade A. Didn’t our ministers tried to make us a City State instead of a country? Well, our City area floods, period.
Look at the oil spill currently in the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama is drawing flak on it even though he didn’t actually caused it; he also didn’t say such things are freaks which happens only in every 50 years – he gamingly take the punch & doesn’t say for the past hundreds years of their history, such things never happen. Are we talking maturity in social-political discussion here? Remember he is taking in only about one-fifth the pay as that of our top guy & yet he is expected to be superman. If we ARE paying our ministers 2-3 times twice as much as Obama, should we expect at least a half-superman accountablity of environmental issues? “Freak” explanations are very expensive explanations which does solve problems.
Looking back, @Fact Check 16 June 2010 clearly pointed out the pertaining “facts”. Is this a system issue or the tax-payers problem? We pay taxes for the garhem to say, what, it is not their problem, or it is nobody’s problem? Maybe citizens should form bands of roving inspectors checking underground drainage while NOT being paid for doing so. Cheaper, better, faster, lah.
Aiyoh, forgottongeneration
theonlinecitizen meant is as a joke la…
Don’t blame the govt! blame the people for not going to orchard arm with pales to help clear the water!
The floods are most definitely due to human error not Nature.
why?
1. The rain did not coincide with High Tide.
2. The rain was moderate (what the heck, 60% of June rainfall when June is not even the month with most rain)
3. The canal next to old specialsist centre is no more – less collection point for rain water.
4. The marina barrage exit gates may be designed too small. Let us assume they opened all the doors 100% wide open. But there is still the infrastucture holding the gates. IF they are badly designed, they will still obstruct a sizeable volume of water.
It is PREMATURE for all those who say “don’t blame the government, it is nature”. The Media is desperately trying to psycho you. Have an open mind.
I have been working in Orchard area for over 20 years, this is not the first time we have 2 hours of rain in the morning!!!! You must be a fool to immediately conclude that the event is “freakish” and entirely due to nature. Observe the various infrastuctture disturbances around the area and make your own judgement.
zero
It surprised me when I saw the news, and the antie was saying: Can’t believe it happens in the first world country…”
Do you know, someone will say: “It only happen once every 50 years, nothing I can do, let’s move on.”
They’ll only do something if there’s flooding in Oxley Rise, Rochalie Drive and Namly.
@Joshua Chiang
Sorry lah, got moderated until siao already. Left-wing, right-wing, center-back???
Or was it the World Cup hangover? Switzerland can beat Spain – joke or not? If we had been working to give our citizenry Swiss standards, maybe we will be in World Cup 2010 now instead of going to kopitiam to watch. Or that’s a good way to go back to kampung roots in order to integrate all the FT/FWs?
Maybe our Singapore Tourist Board should capitalise on the mistake and make a caption for our famed Orchard Road shopping area as follows :
“Opportunity of a lifetime not to be missed in 50 years”
Our famed Orchard Road may be instantly turned into a world-class Milan waterway for the extra excitement of shoppers. Catch it if you can!
sometimes so much effort is spent on sprucing up the outward appearance, that deep underlying cracks surface eventually.
that is why the gahmnet has been doing – look good on the outside but rotten in the inside.
when calamity comes, then their true colours will show.
the flood is a lesson for us to look deep beneath what is on the surface and check whether we are really true inside.
Damn philisophical right ? I hope everyone knows what i mean
2 decades ago, there wasn’t any Marina Barrage, could it be some one forgot to open the flood gate to let the water out?
If there is No Inquiry, there will be No Answer.
PAP Wayang, Blood Sucking Millionaires, Good For Nothing.
i once attended a seminar and the speaker said that every aspect of our lives come under the purview of some Ministry. If something goes wrong in our lives, you can bet your last dollar that there is some Ministry who is responsible for that aspect.
think about it, there is some truth to that.
If that is the case, surely we can blame the government for the flooding at Orchard
blameless govt,
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Agree totally, fully and completely with you. We should not blame the government but the people for not chipping in with pails and towels.
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Look at the videos again. Look at what the people are doing in an emergency event like this one.
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So many of them whipping out their cameras and viewcams instead of rolling up their sleeves and trousers to help clear the flood waters.
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Shame on Singaporeans. The other person always have to do the dirty job.
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Only one thing I can fault the government with; and that is for not providing enough pails and towels for helpful citizens to do their national duty in such an event.
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Shame on the government! How much does a pail costs compared to the salaries they are drawing?
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A shameful day for both government and citizens of Singapore for treating our island treasure like we did. It is ORCHARD ROAD you know, not Tanjong Pagar or Ang Mo Kio.
Where are the running dog lackeys at this time? Covering up?
http://www.youngpap.org.sg/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=166:orchard-road-flood-next-steps&catid=42:environment&Itemid=35
I like to ask; what is the purpose of the Marina Barrage?
cj – I think it is suppose to be a reservoir but one which has tidal gates that can be opened or shut.
when there is heavy rainfall, the tidal gates will opened so that the water will flow out to the sea to prevent flooding, see ?
But how come despite this, ORchard Road still flood ? Dunno leh, only authorities who build the Marina Barrage can answer. But so far, no answer, leh…
RW
p.s. it’s rude to ‘curse’ people’s parents dying, even in imaginary situations. Basic respect lah, regardless how we differ in opinion. Thx.
……………
am i cursin YOUR parents? i am here to paint a scenerio in true lives..leekuanyew couldn’t cared less if YOUR parents endup havin sars/h1n1 virus overseas..he will bluentLEE tell YOU off for allowin your ole aged parents to go overseas and brin back the disease…
on the other hand..how ole is mrs harrylee? yet she can travel the world and flied home on a special modified flyin ambulance from SIA…
how many INNOCENT people died from the above sars/h1n1 viruses?
so to you..OTHER parents are XPENDABLE..
xcept yours? what makes you so special?
and 1 more time regardin this floodin..who is payin for all the damages? yacob himself? try open/buy a house in those flooded area… than you come here tellin US..is an act of GOD..nothin to do with ministers/scholars
hello STUPID..yes YOU..do you know that we hav EVERY modern equipments/computers @ the government facilities (paid with taxpayers hardearned money) to forcast such events.. it is THEIR job to be well PREPARED BEFORE it even occurred..
take a cue from the civil defence statements…
READINESS is our only DEFENCE…
so where is the readiness?
gemami 17 June 2010 blameless govt,
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Agree totally, fully and completely with you. We should not blame the government but the people for not chipping in with pails and towels.
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Look at the videos again. Look at what the people are doing in an emergency event like this one.
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who says there are no pails and towel availiable? even videos camera was availiable when the last events was held on a voideck prior to the last ERECTIONs.. where ministers/mps (xcept leekuanyew/leehsienloong themselves) who was cleanin a hdb block in their wards to ensure a clean sparkin block before the last GREAT ERECTION…
so now the Q is who got the pails/towels/video/broomstick after onlLEE used for 1 time?
i wonder if it is save to go orchard road now,need to do some shopping
Please don’t be fooled by excuses of ‘freak weather’ and people should stop these comparisons with the average rainfall in June. While 100mm of rainfall in a couple of hours may be unusual in June, the Stamford Canal and drainage system wasn’t built for June. It should have been designed for the wettest DAYS of the year during the monsoons.
From Wikipedia, “the highest 24-hour rainfall figures ever recorded in history was 512 mm (20.2 in) (1978), 467 mm (18.4 in) (1969) and 366 mm (14.4 in) (19 December 2006)”.
As you can see, 100mm is less than 30% of the the 366mm recorded in ONE DAY in December less than 4 years ago. So Wednesday’s rain was not highly unusual or ‘freakish’. That’s just an excuse by the the government.
@ iamaGOOGLEbuttonman
hiaz… clearly, you are obsessed with lky/lsl and famiLEE.. to the extent it’s haunting you. Everything in the world has to be about them, even the weather. Not everyone has the same compulsion to rant about them in every post, regardless of topic.
Plus, it’s not like i disagree with you that the govt is inadequate in its preparedness.
In fact, I agree with you.
You, yourself, quoted me on the areas i said was lacking. And others have also put cited other reasonable area of failures- like failure of marina barrage/floodgates/drains to work properly etc.
But failure to forecast weather? you can assume they have EVERY (your emphasis) modern equipment in the world, or even assume they have a crystal ball. forecasting is still the science of guessing.
Not everyone shares your hatred for lky/lhl/famiLEE and sees the need to rant on about them on every issue in every post. Others just read articles to be better informed citizens and prefer to be constructively critical.
The ministers & top civil servants are the best available, according to LKY. They are paid millions a year yet they failed to prevent flooding at the busiest commercial area of Singapore. The govt’s excuses are always ‘freak weather’; ‘once in 50 years’ so it is not advisable to spend millions to build canals in land-scare Singapore.
Many serious incidents happened here because the common people are afraid to criticise higher authorities and accept the situation unquestioned, eg. the prison toilet window without grille, the graffiti on MRT train mistaken as officially-approved advertisement. Lastly, how can you make sure the drainage system in Orchard Rd is in good order when the canal there is covered up?
PUB explained already: choke drain lah. PUB checks only every 3 to 6 mths lah.
See, surely got reason one. Then in future will step up checks every mth & install sensors lah.
But why never think of it before? I thought got 6 sigma lah, KPIs, all the analysis tools to help them wat?
Michael 17 June 2010
PUB explained already: choke drain lah. PUB checks only every 3 to 6 mths lah.
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iamaLONGKAUman 16 June 2010
this is 1 simple problemo where the government scholars all hav BLOCKED braincells…it a simple musical chairs problemo..
how it started? so simple..orchard road hav numerous constructions goin on..any muds/sands will be hosed..orchard road is so HIGHCLASS that benzs & bmws tyres mus not get muddy or dirtied or else this highclass owners will telefone leekuanyew for actions…which is why orchard road is the only road where you pay erps to get in and erps to get out as well…
so when the bangalas workers hosed..where do the mud/sand waters goes?
to the drains right? and if you multiply by 10 construction sites..you will get 10Xs blockaged right?
so how not to flood orchard road?
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as you all can read…i posted this YESTERDAY on the topic regardin this musical chair problemo…
as a common layman(or jumbuanman) i already FORSEE the problemo BEFORE it even started…now regardin this few millions losses on the poor shopkeepers/condo/benzie/bmws owners…
who is goin to pay for their losses? unless all of them is insured with NTUC income lark?
overtoyou
myviews/rw…iam sured you do hav something substantiate to rebutt me
Remember how FAST they tried to put the blame on freak weather on that very day.
It NOW appears it was just a choked drain that was not cleared.
Billions of dollars literally down the drain building flood prevention infrastructure when someone tasked with clearing fell asleep on the job.
Blame private sector AGAIN, like WKS in SMRT case? TEFLON PAP do not believe in taking responsibility.
no lah! blame the ppl for causing the choke
and also for not informing the authority about it.We all must play our part leh! Same like the mrt case wat! must help to look out for them lor!
Mr. Brown will be pleased.
He warned the minister of environment about ignoring his duties and he got a reprimand by mica.
Looks like the things being choked are not only Stamford Canal, those lightning-bright brains are equally choked!
Complacency seems to be the mandate of Singapore!
This is nothing compared to ours.
Check out first world France lastest flash flood -
http://www.google.com.sg/#hl=en&source=hp&q=france+flash+flood&btnG=Google+Search&rlz=1R2ACAW_en&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=france+flash+flood&gs_rfai=&fp=5cdf30f63c4a37eb
Yours is chicken feed.
What about HarryLee, doesn’t he have a part to play in the Great Singapore Flood?
After all he is our official forecaster, fortuneteller, soothsayer, magician, lion-tamer and what-not. Why didn’t he warn us about the freak events? Huge failure!
If we don’t blame the Govt, then who we blame ?
See everytime when a developer submits a new development to URA for approval, the first thing the Govt do is to calculate the development charge based on the gross floor area of the each development. These development charges are supposedly paid for among other things, to ensuring that the existing drainage system will be continuouly upgraded and maintained to cater for any anticipated increased capacity due to any new developments in the area.
So could it be that the new development at ION has contributed to the current situation that the current drainage system around the area cannot cope with the increased capacity brought by the unexpected storm ?
So could it be that our Govt has been too busy collecting all these development charges to pay real attention to the threat of uncontrolled development ? Or pay enough attention to anticipate for the worst case scenarios ?
In engineering lingo, the worst case scenario is often taken into consideration when it comes to designing any infrastructure ? So did anybody at PUB screwed up in their calculations ?
So now with the Marina Barrage in operation, did someone make any mistake in the design calculations that it has instead become the Ancilles Heel to become the trap for Singapore’s excess rainfall ? Or did someone screwed up real time by not opening all the gates at the right time to let the water out as it was originally designed ? Maybe someone was busy watching the World Cup the night before to stay alert enough ?
This is maybe a wake-up call for our PAP Govt to pay more details to actual life threatening situations instead of solely engrossed in pursuing GDP increases only.
Just imagine if all basement levels of our shopping malls and buildings become mini-reservoirs and are completely submerged in water, what would be the consequences ? Would it be our first national disaster especially if lives are lost the next time it happen again ?
Is it another excuse for PUB say that the choked underground culvert at Orchard area is the cause for the freak flooding at Orchard Road ? If our underground culverts can be choked that easily, then isn’t PUB asking for more trouble ? You mean to say some big heavy stone fell into the underground culvert thus choking it ? You must be kidding ? I thought they have filters place at strategic position of the underground culvert to prevent chokage ?
Or I would have thought the culverts should be adequately designed in the first place with increased allowace to cater for any possible chokage ?
Now that the PUB has announced that they will be carrying out their checks once a month (increased from one every 4~6 months, does it mean that the shop owners at Orchard area must pray hard that either the culvert must not choke for 29 days of each month after PUB’s check or that the freak storm don’t happen again on any of the 29 days prior to each PUB check ?
Is it a case of the Govt wanting the development charges to be paid by the developers, but do not want to spend it responsibly to cater for any possible occurences including ‘freak’ accidents ?
Or that just simply don’t blame the Govt if anything happens as the concerned PAP Minister’s pay does not include any liability whatsoever. We would need to pay our PAP Ministers billions if we want to hold them responsible!
Choke drain? An excuse 10 years in the making.
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What happened to the Super-Canal that is supposed to ensure that Orchard Road never gets flooded?
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What happened to the enforcement officers who are supposed to be keeping our Orchard Road clean and green?
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How come so much rubbish got thrown into our drains without them noticing, so much that it choked our super-canal in less than three months?
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To think we have just heard reports from the MSM that these enforcement officers are doing their job so well with the increased in people being nabbed for littering and made to serve CWOs.
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So who do we blame next, the Environment Ministry for allowing our super-canal to get all choked up?
Great, they realised that the good ol’ “freak” & “higher than average rainfall” explanations don’t go down well any more. But where is the creditability and morality if they tried to pull a fast one over the public in the first place?
Still they tried to put the blame partly on nature – in PUB explanation, they mentioned that the first downpour may have taken some tree branches down and then a quick succession second downpour brought down more branches. These choked the so-called culvert. Hello, I dont know how big the culvert is but I do know branches must be big to choke. Does that mean there are no grilles or traps between the place of fallen branches, along the path of water flow to culvert? If the branches didn’t get choked at the culvert, does that mean we will see such branches floating at the Marina Barrage?
Lastly, for closure, the public should press for a NAME – where the buck stops at. Notice PUB didn’t admit to liability & only frontline people appears on TV to explain to the public; NO ministers in sight so far (very good IFC, lah). This is not a witch hunt; it is plain accountability. Regardless of any political affiliation or what some may say of party bashing, I believe high accountability and high responsibility comes with high pay. After all, this is the basis of meritocracy, isn’t it?
My overseas friends had a rude schock when we were there eating. Why are the ministers sleeping on their jobs again? It’s one after another in this country.
When you pay peanuts, you get monkeys. Solution? Increase ministers’ salaries from million dollar to billion dollar. We, Singaporeans are indeed daft. =)
@Franco, 18 June 2010
Welcome to S’pore! Firstly we cannot compare our chicken feed 10cm rainfall to your 40cm.
Secondly your 40cm rainfall and flooding didn’t occur at the Arc de Triomphe or Place de l’Étoile area.
Thirdly, if there is any screw-up, your top guy still gets about US$350K per year, ours get about US$2.1 million.
But we have things in common; I think your branches will also choke culverts if your PUB-equivalent gave them the chance.
Villa la France! (i.e. best of luck to your World Cup team)
Hahaha! I could almost hear the sleeping governemnt excusing themselves that it’s an honest mistake. Nothing to do with urban planning…I don’t understand. First, Mah Bow Tan tweaked the HDB figures. Then Vivian denied interview for the homeless in singapore. Then raymond increase bus fares and said our electricity bills was pegged to oil prices even though 80% of our energy is from natural gas. Then HD flats are overpriced. Then Mas Selamat run away. Then PM lee wants to fix opposition. Then Vivian f##k care the poor and say they should eat hawker, food court or restaurant food? Then NKF gold tap. Then Ho Ching lost 13 billion of our reserves. Then LKY called us daft for not paying for overly expensive 99-year rented pigeon holes where you can get sued for putting things on your corridor. Then, GST went up. Then, ERP gantries went up to more than 40. Then health ministers say you can consider retire in johor bahru retirement villages. Then tharman says economy is OK despite we have more FTs taking away our graduates jobs and depressing salaries, 3 recessions, digging into reserves and high unemployment. Then, Lim Swee suay says we should work longer, be cheaper better and faster. Then PM says we should work some and increase productivity but our salaries no go up. His salaries go up. He tells you to do and he earn on your effort. Then, teachers are overworked. Then country too stress to make babies cos cost of living too high. Then, Orchard Road flood. Very incompetent government. Why don’t they build another gambling resort?
I thought it was underwater world like Kevin Costner. Was it really necessary to issue out an EAM?