Firstly, why did Orchard Road flood? Orchard Road had excellent canal and drainage systems, but on the day of the flood, though some sheer twist of fate, the torrential rain, which was said to have been more than 60% of the monthly rainfall for June in a single day, washed all the branches and rubbish into a main drain 2.7 meters in diameter drain and clogged it up, while the torrential rain then consequently flooded Orchard Road. This was the official statement that had been released by PUB following the flood, with them claiming that they had been completely caught off-guard by the flood. Millions of dollars was lost in the flood, with many shop vendors losing their stocks and having their shops destroyed by the flood, which was knee deep and even worse for basement levels.
Now with the summary of the incident behind, whose fault was it to blame then? Is it the government, the citizens, PUB or Mother Nature? Much of the debris that had contributed to the clogging up of the drain was the rubbish that had been strewn around Orchard Road. The rubbish contributed by the citizens shopping at Orchard Road and if it had not been for the rubbish, the drain may have not been clogged up, resulting in the prevention of this flood that had resulted in damages worth up to millions of dollars. So was it the inconsideration of citizens that had led to this flooding? Alas, PUB is at fault here as well. Should they had put up countermeasures to this scenario, or had performed checks more often on the drainage systems, the flood could have been prevented, or at least it would not have been as severe as this. But am I going on the wrong track? Most of the reasons I had laid down was based on the claims by PUB that the flood was because of the blocked drain. But shortly after this flood, another minor one happened again, and this time, all drains had been properly cleared. So, was the flooding not just because of that blocked drain, but also because of the inadequacies of our drainage and canal systems, despite the governments claims that they are world-class? I admit, that making Singapore flood free is practically impossible, and that we should be happy that our floods were relatively minor compared to that of China's, but one should always strive for the better, and so, the Government should think of ways to combat the increasing threat of flooding following increased climate change. Is our canal systems not good enough now? Do we have to sacrifice some space to construct more drains and canals so that future flood can be averted?
I leave you with this questions, and an interesting video on the flooding that I had found on Stomp. (It is a Hitler parody) http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/403170/hitler_hit_by_orchard_road_flood.html
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