Yesterday’s ‘Showering’ in MCE is Due to Fire Sprinklers That is Activated By Accident, Not Burst Pipe

Now you’ve probably heard of: “It’s a Bird… It’s a Plane… It’s Superman.”

Yes, it’s a musical and also a phrase catapulted to cult status and/or meme fandom depending on how you look at it, and/or if you are a fan of the original Superman.

Doesn’t matter though, for it doesn’t change the fact that I’m still me writing this article, and you are still you, the reader.

Confused? Maybe.

But certainly not as much as the commuters who took a trip through the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) yesterday.

For in their heads, they went “It’s water … it’s rain … it’s pee-pur …man?”

Water in MCE 

“Water in MCE” sounds exactly like a parody or satirical play which could contain a tune or two akin to “It’s water … it’s rain … it’s pee-pur …man?”

But water in MCE was a reality yesterday at around 7am along a tunnel stretch of the MCE.

Now, that’s not PMI 400-level haze from our neighbours, but rather, a fine mist sprinkling blessings on commuters.

Here’s a video of the incident captured on film and uploaded onto Facebook Group Singapore Taxi Driver.

In what appears to be a taxi, the driver and passenger can be heard discussing about the origins of the water.

Burst pipes and sea water were contenders for the-true-water-identity award.

If you don’t know, part of MCE is indeed under the seabed, and it is at its deepest point, roughly 20 metres beneath.

That equates to a lot of scary water and high pressure above.

Several motorcyclists can also be seen stopped along the road shoulder, with some staring in awe of the liquid shower, while some scrambled for the raincoat.

Clarification from Land Transport Authority

Thankfully, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has responded with clarification on the matter.

According to a LTA statement: “At 7.10am today (day of the incident), the water-based fire-fighting system along a 25m stretch of the Marina Coastal Expressway (MCE) westbound tunnel, after the East Coast Parkway/Fort Road entry, was accidentally triggered due to a technical fault.”

It added that the system was switched off at about 7.26 am, roughly about 16 minutes after it came on, and shared that there was no major impact to traffic apart from slow moving traffic near the affected areas.

It added too in no uncertain and indeed categorical term that there was “no fire and seawater seepage in the tunnel.”

That being said, it’s well worth noting that similar incidents have happened before.

In January this year, a section of the tunnel was closed for about two hours after a burst pipe rained water onto drivers.

The fire-fighting system was also accidentally activated in May 2017, causing a traffic slowdown.

It appears that water, rain, pipe-water, or God-forbid, seawater, is not water under the bridge after all.