Sea change needed

Saitama example could provide solution to flood woes

Letter from Tan Keng Tat

I REFER to the PUB’s plans to “fast-track drainage improvement works — widening and deepening drains and raising road levels — in five areas around Singapore” to prevent potential floods in future (“Wider, deeper drains”, July 24).

These plans are commendable but paradoxically, in the experience of Kasukabe City in the low-lying Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, only a holistic and audacious approach can stop flash floods in Singapore for good. Anything less will only postpone the inevitable.

Kasukabe City, which was hit by six major floods, solved its problem by constructing the world’s largest underground water infrastructure, consisting of five giant, vertical intake silos, each 65 metres in depth.

These giant intake silos are located near recalcitrant rivers, canals and waterways to stop rain water from rushing onto the streets.

Rain water, which drains into these giant intake silos, flows at an accelerated rate along a huge 6.3km long underground tunnel into a colossal surge cavern, measuring 177m in length, 78m in width and 25.4m in height.

From here, the water is discharged into the sea by a number of 10-megawatt gasturbine pumps, at an astonishing rate of 200 cubic metres per second.

Since Singapore plans to be self-sufficient in water management in the future, adopting this system can turn a perennial nuisance into a precious asset by not discharging the water into the sea in the first instance, but instead into our 15 reservoirs.

Only when these reservoirs are judiciously filled to near-capacity will the excess water be discharged into the sea.

I hope the PUB will study the unique flood-control system in the Saitama Prefecture and, if deemed viable, adopt or adapt it post haste before our reputation as one of the world’s most liveable cities is reduced to tatters by flash floods.

YiNG

C O O L

It’s not too late ...

Letter from Keith Low Sheng Hng

AFTER the recent spate of torrential rains and the floods that followed, many questioned the Public Utilities Board’s ability to handle large amounts of rainfall and whether more could be done to improve Singapore’s drainage system.

But while the PUB certainly has much work to do, we should not forget we can do something about the root of the problem:

The rain.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew last week called the rain and floods an “Act of God”.

I would call it “a Reaction of God to the Actions of Men”.

Climate change has wreaked havoc on weather patterns the world over. Japan is battling a heatwave with temperatures hitting 40.9°C, while China is facing deadly floods. Singapore’s average annual temperature has risen in recent years, reports tell us.

So, what does this mean to us? Simply:

We should do our part by trying to save the environment. This can be done in small increments, in many simple ways, like lessening the use of air-conditioners or turning lights off when not in use.

They may seem like insignificant acts, but clearly, we’re already seeing the effects of mankind’s environmental callousness.

It’s not too late to reverse that.

sOunds  similar  to the  SHARE PRICE ALERT  SYSTEM  ? ? ? ?

Are investors / traders  MORE  SECURED, ASSURED,  EMPOWERED  ? ? ? ?

Fighting future floods

Early warning system to alert Joo Chiat residents to future incidents

Hetty Musfir ah

hetty@mediacorp.com.sg

SINGAPORE

This information would be compiled into a register and — should a flood strike — grassroots leaders would be activated to call and warn residents.

“We are offering this kind of liaison network,” he said. “If anything, it can help residents feel more assured, more secured and empowered.”

Mr Chan added that the taskforce wants to be part of a bigger emergency response plan that he hopes the government will consider. During the dialogue session held at Siglap South Community Centre yesterday, PUB promised to improve the drainage system in Joo Chiat and will set up an earlywarning system for them. Works are also underway to deepen and widen the Siglap Canal, a major water artery in the area that is linked to the sea. Residents shared with PUB their experiences during the recent flash floods, with the one on July 17 hitting them hard.

Some even suggested building a barrage across the canal.

PUB director for catchment and waterways Tan Nguan Sen replied that for a barrage to be built, land has to be set aside for a pumping station, adding that flood barriers could be installed instead.— A community alert and response network to fight future floods could take shape in Joo Chiat, if Member of Parliament Chan Soo Sen has his way. Speaking at a dialogue session between Joo Chiat residents and the Public Utilities Board, Mr Chan said a taskforce could be set up to collect information like phone numbers and addresses of residents.

Very important life-skills to teach your children; learn how to swim and paddle; live and park above ground level; what else?

pharoah88      ( Date: 25-Jul-2010 15:22) Posted:     DREAM WILL  TOMORROW  BE  BETTER  ? ? ? ?

It is not always that things go wrong because someone conduct himself improperly. Often, it is pure incompetency of the bureaucracy, and unwillingness to admit it.

An example, the escape of mas selamat. Not sure if anyone was held accountable for his escape. The lower ranking ones, maybe.

So! if  not happy with their "flood" conclusion. What to do?

SANDBAGGING  is NOT the SAME as a  MULTI-BAGGER  STOCK ? ? ? ?

SANDBAGGING  is  a  MEDIOCRE  SOLUTION  ? ? ? ?

SANDBAGGING  DON'T  need  MERITO-CRACY  ? ? ? ?

SANGBAGGING  is  "BONSAI"  in  SCALE  ? ? ? ? 

178investors      ( Date: 24-Jul-2010 11:55) Posted: Sandbags are now hot property, in demand. Sandbags are temporary measure to reduce flooding.  Many said they have to build perimeter walls around their properties, as permanent measure, to hold back future floods. Visions of our future city changing fast from Singapore : "Global City" --> "Sandbag City" --> "Fortress City". Let's hope they come up with acchitecturally pleasing fortresses. laulan's right.. can't sleep in basement carpark .. risky.. shouldn't basement parking lots go for discount to compensate risk to life and property? MP calls on authorities to draw up emergency response plan for floods By Imelda Saad | Posted: 23 July 2010 1917 hrs     Photos 1 of 1 (File pic) Orchard Rd flood at Liat Towers       <>  Video MP urges authorities to draw up flood emergency response plan     SINGAPORE: Consider an emergency response plan for floods - that's a suggestion from one MP for the authorities in view of the recent spate of floods around Singapore. A series of dialogue sessions are already planned for residents and the national water agency, PUB. In response to queries from Channel NewsAsia, PUB said it will meet various MPs and grassroots leaders over the next few days. They include Minister Lui Tuck Yew for the Cambridge Road area, MP Heng Chee How for the Jalan Bahagia area, MP Hri Kumar for Upper Thomson and MP Chan Soo Sen for Telok Kurau. Concerned residents also want to know how to go about protecting themselves. Battling floods is nothing new to Joo Chiat estate which is located on low lying ground. But residents, including the area's MP said they've never seen flooding as bad as in this past month. For example, one childcare centre was flooded twice over a month. Channel NewsAsia was told PUB handed out sand bags on Thursday. For now, the centre has about 50 of these bags stacked at its entrances. PUB said 780 sandbags have been provided to affected residents across the island to protect their basement entrances and homes in the event of another flood. Sandbags are just a temporary solution so the centre has engaged a professional engineer to look at more permanent fixtures and this may include constructing raised barriers and walls around the perimeter of the building. Residents in the area will have a dialogue with the PUB on Sunday to address concerns over how to mitigate future floodings and protect their property. There's also a call for more proactive measures. MP for Joo Chiat, Chan Soo Sen said: "My residents would like the authorities to tell us a little bit more about what we can do. We accept that no amount of engineering can totally eliminate the threat. “If we want to totally eliminate the threat it will be a very high cost option so from time to time this can happen. I think our residents here in Joo Chiat are rational people. They understand that but what they would like to know is what can we do? Do the authorities have some specific advice on what we can do to mitigate the damages? "We do have emergency response systems in case of a civil defence emergency or terrorist emergency. We have been briefed, sometimes we have even been exercised, so is there something that can be done along this line in case there is going to be a flood? “What should be a recall system? Who should call who? Where shall we go to? What should be our roles? What kind of report we should give the relevant authorities? What type of advise we should give the residents and how we can calm down the residents and perhaps help them save themselves as well as their properties.” Some businesses affected by the floods have heeded the call to act. Liat Towers at Orchard Road, severely hit by rising waters, have more than 200 sandbags around the building. Its building services executive Chik Hai Lam said it bought 220 sandbags and the PUB added another 60 to the lot on Thursday. Mr Chik said the bags have helped to "slow down" the water coming in. It also engaged a professional engineer to propose permanent solutions like flood barriers already installed at the Wisma Atria mall. Mr Chik added: "Our sand bags will be here as long as the barriers are not up, beyond that. There will be the mountable, likely, glass panels which we can slot in or slide in to be implemented along the front." Such permanent structures cost about S$500,000 and need to be imported. So it may take about half a year before it can be installed. Meanwhile, Liat Towers said it wants to set up raised kerbs or walls, at least two feet high to prevent waters from drowning its basement shops. It's hoping to get the green light from authorities to have the kerbs installed by the end of next week. Mr Chik continued: "We will be keeping it in line along our building boundary, right on the front exposed area here." The building's management also plans to install additional pumps to drain out excess water. At least three shops in the area have been closed for the past month due damage from the floods. Separately, the PUB said 90 of its staff are on high alert round the clock. 360 contractors, 15 tankers and 20 pumps are also on standby. PUB has alerted buildings along Orchard Road such as Liat Towers, Lucky Plaza, Tong Building, Delfi Orchard and residences such as Tessarina and Corona Ville on the forecasted weather this weekend. PUB has met six condominium management, seven commercial buildings and more than 80 affected residents to explain the flood situation and provide advice on what they can do to protect their premises. Some of them are Tessarina Condominium, Corona Ville, Cluny Court and affected premises/households at Orchard Road, Cambridge Road, Jalan Taman, Telok Kurau, Rienzi Street, Ernani Road, Fidelio Road and Tosca Terrace. New localised drainage improvement works will be fast tracked in areas such as Cambridge/Dorset, Tembiling Road / Duku Road and Sin Ming Road to Marymount Road. But there's some reprieve for now - the weather man said Typhoon "Chanthu" has dissipated after making landfall over southern China and is unlikely to have a major impact on Singapore this weekend. But NEA's Meteorological Services Division said to still expect "short-duration showers with thunder over many areas in the morning and early afternoon. The public is advised to obtain the latest weather reports, including heavy rain warnings, by tuning in to radio broadcasts, calling NEA's weather forecast hotline at 65427788, following @NEAsg on Twitter, accessing the mobile weather service, available free at Weather@SG or visit the NEA website The public can also visit the PUB website for the safety advisory for floods. - CNA/vm

"BONSAI"  will start  recruiting  ENGINEERS  ? ? ? ?

SOME ENGINEERS  will be LUCKY to earn  S$ Million  annual  compensations  ? ? ? ?

Isolator      ( Date: 24-Jul-2010 12:37) Posted: I can only say the Party members are lousy. I believe none come from Engineering background, most are likely from lawyer, doctor, or maybe marketing...

nO  WONDER ? ? ? ?

In last week's newspapers, MINISTER  GEORGE  accepted that  CHINA  CALLED  SINGAPORE  "BONSAI" ? ? ? ?

100mm  is  REALLY  "BONSAI"  COMPARED  to  500mm  ? ? ? ?

TRUE  ? ? ? ? 

DON'T  TELL  ME  ? ? ? ?

MERITO-CRACY  also  has  "BONSAI"  version ? ? ? ?

HOPE  NOT ? ? ? ?

OTHERWISE,  PAY  also should be "BONSAI"  version  TOO ? ? ? ?

http://74.6.146.127/search/cache?ei=UTF-8&p=500mm+rain+fall+happening+in+singapore&rd=r1&fr=yfp-t-712&u=theonlinecitizen.com/2010/06/floods-are-we-prepared/&w=500mm+%22500+mm%22+%22rain+fall%22+rainfall+happening+happened+happens+singapore&d=KAULtrZfVKWh&icp=1&.intl=sg&sig=cSUw7fc2iCKNaUkDUGdSTw

Floods – are we prepared? Posted by theonlinecitizen on June 26, 2010 47 Comments

Case Study 2:

On 5 June 1984, a total of 121.1mm of rain fell, the highest ever recorded for the month of June on a single day, according to NEA. This was probably the one quoted by the PUB after describing the Orchard Road flood as the worst in the area since 1984. (NEA)

MP calls on authorities to draw up emergency response plan for floods
By Imelda Saad | Posted: 23 July 2010 1917 hrs

	Photos 1 of 1 (File pic) Orchard Rd flood at Liat Towers
	<>  Video MP urges authorities to draw up flood emergency response plan

SINGAPORE: Consider an emergency response plan for floods - that's a suggestion from one MP for the authorities in view of the recent spate of floods around Singapore.

A series of dialogue sessions are already planned for residents and the national water agency, PUB.

In response to queries from Channel NewsAsia, PUB said it will meet various MPs and grassroots leaders over the next few days.

They include Minister Lui Tuck Yew for the Cambridge Road area, MP Heng Chee How for the Jalan Bahagia area, MP Hri Kumar for Upper Thomson and MP Chan Soo Sen for Telok Kurau.

Concerned residents also want to know how to go about protecting themselves.

Battling floods is nothing new to Joo Chiat estate which is located on low lying ground.

But residents, including the area's MP said they've never seen flooding as bad as in this past month.

For example, one childcare centre was flooded twice over a month.

Channel NewsAsia was told PUB handed out sand bags on Thursday.

For now, the centre has about 50 of these bags stacked at its entrances.

PUB said 780 sandbags have been provided to affected residents across the island to protect their basement entrances and homes in the event of another flood.

Sandbags are just a temporary solution so the centre has engaged a professional engineer to look at more permanent fixtures and this may include constructing raised barriers and walls around the perimeter of the building.

Residents in the area will have a dialogue with the PUB on Sunday to address concerns over how to mitigate future floodings and protect their property.

There's also a call for more proactive measures.

MP for Joo Chiat, Chan Soo Sen said: "My residents would like the authorities to tell us a little bit more about what we can do. We accept that no amount of engineering can totally eliminate the threat.

“If we want to totally eliminate the threat it will be a very high cost option so from time to time this can happen. I think our residents here in Joo Chiat are rational people. They understand that but what they would like to know is what can we do? Do the authorities have some specific advice on what we can do to mitigate the damages?

"We do have emergency response systems in case of a civil defence emergency or terrorist emergency. We have been briefed, sometimes we have even been exercised, so is there something that can be done along this line in case there is going to be a flood?

“What should be a recall system? Who should call who? Where shall we go to? What should be our roles? What kind of report we should give the relevant authorities? What type of advise we should give the residents and how we can calm down the residents and perhaps help them save themselves as well as their properties.”

Some businesses affected by the floods have heeded the call to act.

Liat Towers at Orchard Road, severely hit by rising waters, have more than 200 sandbags around the building.

Its building services executive Chik Hai Lam said it bought 220 sandbags and the PUB added another 60 to the lot on Thursday.

Mr Chik said the bags have helped to "slow down" the water coming in.

It also engaged a professional engineer to propose permanent solutions like flood barriers already installed at the Wisma Atria mall.

Mr Chik added: "Our sand bags will be here as long as the barriers are not up, beyond that. There will be the mountable, likely, glass panels which we can slot in or slide in to be implemented along the front."

Such permanent structures cost about S$500,000 and need to be imported. So it may take about half a year before it can be installed.

Meanwhile, Liat Towers said it wants to set up raised kerbs or walls, at least two feet high to prevent waters from drowning its basement shops.

It's hoping to get the green light from authorities to have the kerbs installed by the end of next week.

Mr Chik continued: "We will be keeping it in line along our building boundary, right on the front exposed area here."

The building's management also plans to install additional pumps to drain out excess water.

At least three shops in the area have been closed for the past month due damage from the floods.

Separately, the PUB said 90 of its staff are on high alert round the clock.

360 contractors, 15 tankers and 20 pumps are also on standby.

PUB has alerted buildings along Orchard Road such as Liat Towers, Lucky Plaza, Tong Building, Delfi Orchard and residences such as Tessarina and Corona Ville on the forecasted weather this weekend.

PUB has met six condominium management, seven commercial buildings and more than 80 affected residents to explain the flood situation and provide advice on what they can do to protect their premises.

Some of them are Tessarina Condominium, Corona Ville, Cluny Court and affected premises/households at Orchard Road, Cambridge Road, Jalan Taman, Telok Kurau, Rienzi Street, Ernani Road, Fidelio Road and Tosca Terrace.

New localised drainage improvement works will be fast tracked in areas such as Cambridge/Dorset, Tembiling Road / Duku Road and Sin Ming Road to Marymount Road.

But there's some reprieve for now - the weather man said Typhoon "Chanthu" has dissipated after making landfall over southern China and is unlikely to have a major impact on Singapore this weekend.

But NEA's Meteorological Services Division said to still expect "short-duration showers with thunder over many areas in the morning and early afternoon.

The public is advised to obtain the latest weather reports, including heavy rain warnings, by tuning in to radio broadcasts, calling NEA's weather forecast hotline at 65427788, following @NEAsg on Twitter, accessing the mobile weather service, available free at Weather@SG or visit the NEA website

The public can also visit the PUB website
for the safety advisory for floods. - CNA/vm