THE TEMASEK REVIEW

Written by Our Correspondent

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim described the flooding of parts of Bukit Timah on Thursday as a “freak” event that occurs once in 50 years.

“What happened was very unusual. ‘The intensity was tremendous. We knew the diversion canal was not big enough to take this,” he added.

Mr Yaacob was referring to the diversion canal from the main Bukit Timan canal which was built in 1972.

Following the flooding which damaged the buildings, amenities and cars in the area, PUB has called for tenders to widen the canals in Bukit Timah.

Dr Yaacob did not explain why the canals were not widened earlier to prepare for this “freak” event”. He claimed that it is “not possible” to plan for every event.

“I hope the public will have more patience with us because it will take us some time to enlarge those drains. But having said that, it is not possible for us to plan for every event,” he said.

It does appear that Dr Yaacob as well as the National Enviroment Agency are both caught out cold by the “sudden” storm.

A netizen posted on STOMP a snapshot of the NEA’s online weather map which did not reflect the heavy rain during the time when there was flooding at Dunearn Road.

She said:

“This (the above) was shown on the NEA website at 3.32pm. It showed that only a minor part of northern Singapore was raining. However, a check outside my office window showed heavy rain and flooding along Dunearn Road.”

EDITORS’ NOTE:

Please sign up as a friend of our Facebook here

61 Responses to “Yaacob: Bukit Timah flooding is a “freak” event”