Thursday 27 October 2011

2010-2011 Singapore floods


The 2010-2011 Singapore floods refers to the series of flash floods that hit various parts of the city state Singapore in 2010 and 2011. The floods came about due to the higher-than-average rainfall that aggregated over a short period of time.
To date, the death toll stands at four. One victim died when a tree fell on a public bus, while another two were injured. Another suffered an instant death when a tree descended on his car in a storm on 20 July. An Indonesian boy was the latest casualty in the June 2011 floods - he fell into an uncovered drain along Whampoa and drowned after being pulled under by strong currents.Heavy rains caused flooding in Singapore's central shopping district and snarled traffic throughout the island. Shopping Malls along Orchard Road like Lucky Plaza and Liat Towers were affected by the flood. The flood had caused some shopping mall and car park basements to be submerged in the water. Rescuers had to pull out about 70 passengers from cars and buses, as flooding shut down Orchard Road, which is lined with high-end shopping malls and tourist attractions. No one was injured.
According to the Public Utilities Board (PUB), about 4 inches (100 millimeters) of rain fell in two hours Wednesday morning, equivalent to around 60 percent of the average monthly rainfall for June. Water rose above the tyres of stalled cars on Orchard.A torrential downpour early Friday morning triggered flash floods across the island. Areas like Upper Thomson Road, Bugis and Jalan Boon Lay were the hardest hit. Heavy rain was also reported in Changi, Eunos, Jurong East, Tampines and Sims Avenue.
The flood also caused morning rush hour traffic to come to a virtual standstill on all major expressways in Singapore. Dissipating within a half-hour, however, this flood was short-lived, as compared to the earlier flooding of Orchard Road.At about 3.30pm, Commonwealth Ave and Holland Drive were hit by flash floods and vehicles had to slow down as the flood partially submerged the tyres of the vehicles. As a result, there was a traffic jam along the junction, but normal flow was restored about 5 minutes later.Continuous heavy rainfall since Sunday drenched most of the island, causing flash floods in at least five areas, mostly in the east. Flash floods were reported on the Tampines Expressway slip road at Tampines Avenue 12 and near the Punggol exit, Airport Boulevard, one stretch of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 and Changi Village.
Localised chokes in the drainage along Airport Boulevard, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 and in Changi Village were blamed for the floods. Lanes along Airport Boulevard and at the junction of Tampines avenues 9 and 12 had to be closed for one to two hours.Heavy rains in the afternoon caused flash floods, affecting several roads, Woodlands Road near the Kranji Expressway (KJE) slip road; the Little India area (Norris Road, Kampong Kapor, Owen Road); Ang Mo Kio Ave 5; and the junction of Jalan Pemimpin and Bishan Street 21. The worst affected roads was in the Upper Serangoon area - after PIE exit, next to the Woodsville flyover. The flash floods subsided in 15 minutes except at Upper Serangoon.

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