Heavy rain causes knee-high floods in Bukit Timah
Posted: 19 November 2009 1935 hrs

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SINGAPORE: Heavy and intense rain caused flooding in some parts of Singapore in the early part of Thursday afternoon.

The situation was especially bad in Bukit Timah. At its peak, the flood waters reached knee level.

The affected areas were the stretches from Coronation Road to Third Avenue and from Wilby Road to Blackmore Road. The junction of Sixth Avenue with Bukit Timah Road was also flooded.

Traffic was brought to a standstill along some stretches of Bukit Timah Road.

MediaCorp's news hotline received several calls from members of the public who said cars had trouble driving along these areas.

Parents who had sent their children for examinations at schools and junior colleges in the areas were also stuck in the floods. In some cases, water levels reached car windows.

PUB said 92mm of rain fell within half an hour from about 1.20pm–1.50pm. The total amount of rainfall was 110mm which is approximately 43% of the average monthly rainfall for November.

Thursday's intense rainfall which was about six times that of a normal storm resulted in massive amounts of water - equivalent to the amount in 115 Olympic-sized pools - to drain into Bukit Timah 1st Diversion Canal, causing it to overflow.

The Bukit Timah 1st Diversion Canal which was completed in the early 1970s has been effective in preventing flooding in the Bukit Timah area, until the exceptionally intense storm on Thursday. PUB says it intends to upgrade this canal in the near future.

PUB officers were on site on Thursday to help out, using tankers to pump water out from two basement carparks as well as cleaning up houses that had been affected by flood waters.

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

Weather reports are available at channelnewsasia's weather page, as well as the NEA website at www.nea.gov.sg. You can also access the mobile weather service called Weather@SG available at weather.nea.gov.sg.

The latest weather reports, including heavy rain warnings, are also available over radio broadcasts or by calling NEA's weather forecast hotline at 6542-7788.

You can also call PUB's 24-hour Call Centre at 1800-284-6600 to report obstructions in drains or to check the flood situation.

- CNA/ir

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