SINGAPORE: Floods at Tampines Avenue 12 last week were aggravated by runoff from a construction site after a ditch near the worksite was blocked by a temporary access road, national water agency PUB said at a media briefing on Wednesday (Jan 17).
A PUB spokesperson shared that stormwater runoff from a construction site and a field next to the flooded area would typically flow into an “earth drain”, then discharge directly into Sungei Tampines.
However, PUB’s investigations revealed that the contractors of the construction site built a temporary access road across the ditch, obstructing its flow completely.
The runoff flowed into the roadside drain on Tampines Avenue 12, which was already overwhelmed by the heavy rainfall on Jan 8.
Flash floods occurred at Tampines Avenue 12 after intense rain on Jan 8. (Photo: PUB)
PUB said the flash floods in the area subsided in 25 minutes.
The agency said it will work with the developer, understood to be the Housing and Development Board (HDB) to improve drainage at the access road, and a permanent drainage system will be built “in tandem” with the upcoming development project, PUB added.
PUB INVESTIGATING WHETHER ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN AGAINST CONTRACTOR
PUB said the contractor, Huationg Contractor, should not have built the access road without first informing the agency, saying they “changed the entire landscape”.
“It was the access road which ended up obstructing the flow, that was the key issue,” the spokesperson said.
It is conducting a detailed investigation as to whether the contractor submitted plans to authorities and if so, who they submitted them to. Any works that might impact the drainage system need to be run by PUB.
The obstruction of an earth drain by a construction access road led to the flash flood at Tampines Avenue 12 on Jan 8. (Photo: PUB)
“We have not received any plans, so we need to know: Did they notify anyone else? We need to find out before we go into prosecution actions,” the spokesperson said.
“Those are serious actions so we must make sure we take all the necessary measures to see if things were done properly. Our focus now is to try and improve the temporary drainage in the area.”
PUB said the main task now is ensuring that the contractor removes the section of the access road that resulted in the obstruction of the ditch, to restore the original flow.
This involves digging out a part of the road, which should be done by the end of the week.
Tampines Avenue 12 was among nine locations in the eastern part of Singapore that experienced flash floods due to intense rainfall last week.
PUB shared that the other eight locations experienced flash floods due to their locations in low lying areas.
