Suddenly, PUB has solution to once in 50-year old problem

[Confuseous]

A day after flash floods ground morning rush-hour traffic to a halt on the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE), national water agency PUB has come up with an interim plan to solve the problem in that area.

It will build a tidal gate at the Sungei Pandan Kechil canal within six to nine months. The 2m-tall steel gate near West Coast Road prevents high tide from the sea from flowing into the canal, by creating a temporary storage area.

"If we can cut out the influence of the tide, it helps buy some time during severe rain," PUB's director of catchment and waterways Tan Nguan Sen told The Straits Times.

A city-bound stretch of the AYE shut down for 40 minutes on Thursday morning, as the combination of heavy rain and high tides "stressed out" the area's drainage system, said Mr Tan, with water overflowing onto all four lanes of the major artery. The problem was compounded by the fact that the AYE sits atop a junction where three drains meet, before they channel out to the canal.

Because each drain carries water from a different direction, the intersection at which they meet faces a lot of resistance. This slows down the speed at which water can flow through, said Mr Tan.

 

[winnipegjets]

VB wants to save face ...this elastoplast solution will backfire. A few years after the big ponding, they finally found a solution ...what have they been doing the last few years?

 

[songsongjurong]

this island is getting too little too heavy

 

[songsongjurong]

so is the S$226million marina barrage working or not ? we need another barrage, maybe west coast barrage S$500million, not enough ? add S$200million... Miss Vivian is the right person for this water work !

 

[HTOLAS]

Tide should not have been a factor for the flooding that day. Low tide of 0.5m on 5 Sep 13 was at 0530h and high tide of 2.6m was at 1130h. This means that at the time of the flood (around 0900h), it was still 2 hours away from a very modest high tide. Even taking wind into account, the tide could not have been high enough to cause flooding.

My guess is what everyone else has guessed - inadequate drainage, overbuilding leading to concrete and tarmac being laid all over the place so that ground seepage cannot happen, and heavy rain.

 

[leetahbar]

I think they should learn something from JOURNEY TO THE WEST. instead of 50yrs,they should claim 500yrs to break free of the problem like sunwukong did so.

 

[watchman8]

Tide should not have been a factor for the flooding that day. Low tide of 0.5m on 5 Sep 13 was at 0530h and high tide of 2.6m was at 1130h. This means that at the time of the flood (around 0900h), it was still 2 hours away from a very modest high tide. Even taking wind into account, the tide could not have been high enough to cause flooding.

My guess is what everyone else has guessed - inadequate drainage, overbuilding leading to concrete and tarmac being laid all over the place so that ground seepage cannot happen, and heavy rain.

I think the sudden increase in buildings over past decade is a major cause of this flood. Just look at NUS, which massively increase the number of buildings over last decade, replacing forests and open fields with new buildings. No wonder the campus flooded.

 

[oli9]

VB wants to save face ...this elastoplast solution will backfire. A few years after the big ponding, they finally found a solution ...what have they been doing the last few years?

High ceiling?

 

[Dark Knight]

Malaysia KL also have this sort of severe flooding issues when there's heavy down pour.
But their gahbrament is smart enough to implement a feasible solution.
Guess what is their solution?