Everything About The ‘Tornado’ Over Tuas That Ripped Off Part Of A Building’s Roof Yesterday

Singapore is safe.

We’re like the jewel of South East Asia, being protected from natural disasters by fellow countries like the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia.

That’s what we were taught in primary school.

The first time I realised that wasn’t exactly true was when I learnt that Singapore has three seasons: sunny, rainy and hazy.

And the second time was just a couple of days ago at Tuas.

A Tornado Appeared At Tuas

You’ve seen scenes like these.

But only on the movie screen.

Not if you were at Tuas on 27 Sep 2019, though.

A contributor uploaded a 32-second video of a mini ‘tornado’ on popular Facebook Page All Singapore Stuff.

The video showed dark skies and strong winds.

Wind so strong that part of a building’s roof was ripped into the sky. People could be heard screaming in the background of the video and an announcement was heard telling people not to leave the building.

Now, before you think that this is the work of a bored VFX editor or the movie set of Ah Boys To Men 5, others have chimed in to prove the video’s authenticity.

By Providing More Video Proof

And even one from within the affected building itself.

You can see the boards of the building being stripped away by the strong wind. Scary.

It’s A Landspout

According to the Meteorological Service of Singapore (MSS), this isn’t a tornado. It’s a landspout.

A landspout is a phenomenon that happens before a tornado forms.

A thunderstorm had developed over the waters off Tuas at 10.30am on Friday. And at 11am, it started moving inland.

“The moist air feeding into the intensifying storm resulted in a rotating column of winds over Gul Way around the Tuas area.”

So, what’s the difference?

For one, a landspout lasts only several minutes and when the thunderstorm (that created the landspout) stops, it’ll weaken and dissipate.

Plus, landspouts are usually not dangerous although items that are unsecured can be blown away by the strong winds. Wait, what about the roof? Shoddy workmanship?

This is the first time a landspout actually landed in Singapore and tore part of a roof away.

MSS assures the public that such occurrences are not common.

As my grandma always used to say, now everything also change liao, even the weather.