Coz’ ‘Ponding’ is Expected, PUB is Giving People Sandbags

The weather’s been pretty crazy recently.

One moment, it’s so hot you’ll love a gallon of ice-cold coke to gulp down and the next, it’s raining cats and dogs.

With December being the monsoon season, you can expect heavy rain in Singapore.

And with heavy rain comes…

Which is why Singapore’s own water agency, PUB, decided to do something to help everyday Singaporeans.

PUB giving out sandbags to Singaporeans in flood-prone areas

On 30 Nov, PUB announced new measures to deal with ponding in flood-prone areas in Singapore during the upcoming monsoon season.

Due to the unpredictable weather, they will be giving about 600 residents and shop owners in these areas sandbags as additional flood protection measures.

You can check out their website to see if you’re residing in a flood-prone area.

In addition to that, the water agency has also shared their tips on driving in flood areas.

Should you see that the water level has risen up past the kerb, you shouldn’t try and drive through it.

If not, your vehicle might just stall on you.

PUB to increase routine checks on drainage systems 

PUB has also promised to conduct checks at another 70 major construction worksites around the island.

They’ll ensure that public drains around these sites are unobstructed by debris and ready to drain away as much water as they possibly can.

About 4,000 building owners will also be asked to inspect the drains on their site to prepare for the higher amount of rainfall.

The monsoon season this time is expected to last until March 2019

According to the official weathermen of Singapore, the next two weeks are going to be very, very wet.

Expect thundery showers in the afternoon on seven to nine days for the next two weeks with periods of moderate to heavy rain on one or two days.

In other words, if you don’t have an umbrella, it’s a good time to invest in one now.

S’pore’s flood situation has improved drastically

Back in 2017, the Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, Masagos Zulkifli, says that the flood situation in Singapore has improved drastically.

In the 1970s, 3,200 hectares of land in Singapore were flood-prone areas. Today, he then said, the flood-prone areas in Singapore were reduced to a mere 30.5 hectares.

The PUB takes a “source-pathway-receptor” approach to manage flash floods.

Not only do they target the drains and canals for flood protection, but the areas which generate stormwater runoff and the flood-prone areas itself.

Developers were also tasked to put into place measures that will better manage stormwater runoff into public drains and keep their properties from flooding as well.