Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Drama as floods hit Singapore and Johor

Floods and mudslides have hit parts of Singapore due to the unusual heavy rain since Monday. The rainfall was the third-highest recorded in Singapore in the last 75 years. From The Raw Story:
Members of the Civil Defence Force rescued three employees Tuesday from an office building after flooding prevented them from opening the main gate. A hole was cut in a side fence to let them out...

Vehicles were diverted from several traffic junctions rendered impassable by the rising water.

Mudslides carried soil and trees down a slope, covering two cars, parts of a playground and the front yards of several homes.

"What a backbreaking task, scooping water out of the house," 60- year-old housewife Habsah Rohe told The Straits Times.

Within two hours, water that started rising around the wooden home was up to her knees.

A tall tree toppled and smashed the windows of four flats at a housing block and damaged a concrete ledge.
Occasional heavy rain is expected to continue over Singapore till Wednesday morning and places like Chinatown and Tanjong Katong are prone to flash floods. From Channel NewsAsia:
As the incoming tide is expected to reach its highest point of 2.6m at 11.55pm on Tuesday night, flash floods could still occur at low-lying areas such as:

i) Chinatown/ City area
Mosque Street, Pagoda Street, Temple Street, Trengganu Street, Upper Pickering Street between South Bridge Road and New Bridge Road, South Bridge Road, Upper Hokkien Street between South Bridge Road and New Bridge Road, Chulia Street beside UOB Plaza, Circular Road and McCallum Street/Boon Tat Link;

ii) Tanjong Katong area
Dakota Crescent, Meyer Place, Meyer Road, Dunman Road, Fort Road, Rose Lane and Stadium Road;

iii) Geylang area
Guillemard Road between Lor 26 to 32 Geylang, Lor 4 to Lor 22, Geylang, Lor 101 to 106, Changi Road and Langsat Road;

iv) Area off Jalan Besar between Weld Road and Kitchener Road;

v) Lorong Buangkok.
Our neighbour Johor is also affected by the heavy rain which was described as a "once in 100 years phenomenon". The situation there is much worse with more than 10,000 people evacuated. From Bernama:
As at 5 pm, 3,743 people from 561 families were sent to 35-flood relief centres in Skudai, Pasir Gudang, Masai and Ulu Tiram.

These people are from Kampung Melayu Sengkang, Kulai (88), Kampung Laut, Skudai (722), Lorong Aris (170), Kampung Sungai Beso (113), Kampung Maju Jaya (243), Kampung Bendahara (10) and Kampung Mohd Amin (102).

Kampung Kangkar Tebrau had its 150 residents evacuated, Kampung Pasir Tebrau (200), Kampung Paya Kenangan (150), Kampung Plentong Baru (200), Kampung Sentosa Barat (100), Kampung Rinting (200), Kampung Paya Nam Heng (44), Batu 20, Sungai Tiram (30) and Kampung Mados Batu 19 (56).

Other areas affected were Kampung Bukit Pulai, Pasir Gudang (20), Kampung Sri Bahagia, Plentong (110), Kampung Sepakat (400), Kampung Sungai Tiram (eight) Kampung Oren, Bukit Tiram (200), Kampung Sentosa, Pasir Gudang (60), Kampung Melayu Pandan (500) and Kampung Taman Saujana (100).

Abdul Ghani said that in Batu Pahat, a total of 542 people from 90 families had to be moved to 13 relief centres while in Segamat, 679 people from 138 families were moved to 14 centres.

Some 1,651 residents were evacuated in Muar, and 170 people from 48 families were moved to two centres in Pontian while 85 people from 20 families have been evacuated to two centres in Kota Tinggi.
Update: Watch the videos of the Singapore flood

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