Occasionally, some parts of Singapore are inundated by floods, usually in the form of flash floods that came about due to intense rainfall over a short period of time. Floods in Singapore are much less severe than floods in other countries, often only lasting a few hours before dissipating on its own.
2006 19 December Continuous heavy rain since Monday, 18 December drenched Singapore, resulting in the third highest rainfall of 366mm recorded on Tuesday. The heaviest rain Singapore recorded was 512.4mm on 2 December 1978, followed by 469mm in December 1969. Severe floods affected areas such as Thomson, Mandai and Olive Road, severely affecting the business in Goodwood Florist as it is a low-lying area. By 11pm, floodwaters have subsided in all flooded areas of Singapore except Olive Road.
2010
16 June Heavy rains caused flooding in Singapore's central shopping district and snarled traffic throughout the island. Shopping Malls along Orchard Road like Lucky Plaza and Liat Towers were affected by the flood. The flood had caused some shopping mall and car park basements to be submerged in the water. Rescuers had to pull out about 70 passengers from cars and buses, as flooding shut down Orchard Road, which is lined with high-end shopping malls and tourist attractions. No one was injured.
According to the Public Utilities Board (PUB), about of rain fell in two hours Wednesday morning, equivalent to around 60 percent of the average monthly rainfall for June. Water rose above the tyres of stalled cars on Orchard.
On 18 June, the PUB, in a press conference, revealed its findings that the drainage system under Orchard Road, the Stamford Canal, was choked. The culvert, which was to drain water into two parallel channels, had one of the channels choked with debris, and water flowed through only one channel. When a second rainstorm on the same morning came, the canal, unable to drain off excess water, overflowed and gushed water up to the surface and caused the flooding.
To prevent future floods, PUB spent $25,000 to install five debris-trapping grates at Stamford Canal. These zig-zag grates are meant to catch debris without stopping the flow of water, thus preventing the canal from being choked again. The new grates are installed at Camp Road, Napier Road near Minden Road, Nassim Road, Grange Road and Tanglin Road.
25 June A torrential downpour early Friday morning triggered flash floods across the island. Areas like Upper Thomson Road, Bugis and Jalan Boon Lay were the hardest hit. Heavy rain was also reported in Changi, Eunos, Jurong East, Tampines and Sims Avenue.
The flood also caused morning rush hour traffic to come to a virtual standstill on all major expressways in Singapore. Dissipating within a half-hour, however, this flood was short-lived, as compared to the earlier flooding of Orchard Road.
It was reported that the heavy downpour on Friday Morning was equivalent to about 60 percent of the average monthly rainfall for June.
1 July Heavy rain caused flooding at Paya Lebar and other parts of Singapore. The hardest hit areas were MacPherson Road and Upper Paya Lebar (known as Tai Seng). The flood caused traffic jams throughout the area of Paya Lebar.
17 July A torrential downpour, partially caused by Typhoon Conson, in the early hours of Saturday morning triggered flash floods in various parts of Singapore. Among the hardest hit areas were Braddell Road, Joo Chiat Terrace, Changi Road, Bukit Timah and Delfi in Orchard Road. It was the second time in several months where heavy rain had caused inconveniences to motorists and resulted in severe flooding. In some areas of Bukit Timah (especially those with large drains), the waters were about 70 cm high.
Most of the floods in low-lying areas managed to recede at around 1 pm.
8 September Shenton Way was hit by a flash flood at 10.30 am which lasted around 15 minutes. Little India was flooded for three hours. A tree, due to the bad weather, was brought down, hitting a van driving along Lorong 23 Geylang.
16 November At about 3.30 pm, Commonwealth Ave and Holland Drive were hit by flash floods and vehicles had to slow down as the flood partially submerged the tyres of the vehicles. As a result, there was a traffic jam along the junction, but normal flow was restored about 5 minutes later.
2011
30 January Continuous heavy rainfall since Sunday drenched most of the island, causing flash floods in at least five areas, mostly in the east. Flash floods were reported on the Tampines Expressway slip road at Tampines Avenue 12 and near the Punggol exit, Airport Boulevard, one stretch of Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 and Changi Village.
Localised chokes in the drainage along Airport Boulevard, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5 and in Changi Village were blamed for the floods. Lanes along Airport Boulevard and at the junction of Tampines avenues 9 and 12 had to be closed for one to two hours. A partially completed bridge at the Punggol Waterway collapsed under the weight of rainwater on Sunday morning.
The eastern area around Changi and Pulau Ubin received the highest rainfall. As of 31 January 2011, 200.8mm of rain had pelted down on Pulau Ubin, and 178mm in Changi. The rain had subsided by Monday evening.
4 May Heavy rain caused flash floods in several areas including Ang Mo Kio Avenue 1 and Bishan Street 13. About 90mm of rain fell in less than an hour from 3 pm, said the Public Utilities Board (PUB). The floods subsided in about 20 minutes.
1 June Torrential rain caused flooding at the junction of Novena Square, a tree to fall elsewhere and claimed the life of one victim when a boy fell into a swollen drain along Whampoa.
Despite the drain being guarded by a railing, the boy is believed to have stepped through a break in the railing at the flooded junction of Martaban Road and Minbu Road. He fell into the submerged drain, which is about 1.2m deep. The strong currents swept the boy away, causing him to drown.
5 June A torrential downpour that lasted several hours early on Sunday morning triggered flash floods across several parts of the island. Sennett Estate, Potong Pasir, MacPherson, Toa Payoh, Bukit Timah and Orchard were the areas hardest hit by the floods. Tanglin Mall, Forum Galleria and Traders Hotel were affected by the flood and partially flooded. St Regis Residences had its basement carparks flooded as well. Previous flood affected shopping malls in June 2010, Lucky Plaza and Liat Towers were not affected as flood barriers were activated at the start of the downpour although some shops were still partially affected.
Tanglin Mall and St Regis did not receive flood alerts from the PUB which was due to a technical glitch in the flood alert software, which PUB will rectify. PUB also explained the flooding to the buildings are due to a heavy rainfall directly into the basements and the buildings' internal drainage pumps unable to cope with the huge amount of water.
After the flood, Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources, asked for public feedback on possible danger spots during a flood.
9 June Torrential rain over western part of Singapore caused flooding at Jurong East and Choa Chu Kang. Several flats were affected.
21 October Heavy rains in the afternoon caused flash floods, affecting several roads, Woodlands Road near the Kranji Expressway (KJE) slip road; the Little India area (Norris Road, Kampong Kapor, Owen Road); Ang Mo Kio Ave 5; and the junction of Jalan Pemimpin and Bishan Street 21. The worst affected roads was in the Upper Serangoon area – after PIE exit, next to the Woodsville flyover. The flash floods subsided in 15 minutes except at Upper Serangoon.
The flash flood at Upper Serangoon was due to a choke in an unapproved temporary drainage which was constructed. It was constructed by a contractor carrying out road work for the Land Transport Authority at the Woodsville flyover. The pipes were undersized and not properly connected. The pipes was also obstructed with debris, resulting in severe restriction of the flow of rainwater. The contractor will be prosecuted for illegally obstructing and altering the drainage system.
27 October Heavy rains in the afternoon caused flash floods, affecting areas like Maxwell Road and Shenton Way. It was reported that water level at Shenton Way was about ankle-deep.
31 October Heavy rains in the afternoon caused flash floods, affecting several roads, slip road at Kallang-Paya Lebar Expressway (KPE) towards Woodlands, Swiss Club Road (near Sixth Ave, Dunearn Road (near College Green) and Stevens Close. The junction of Mandai Road and Woodlands Road was also flooded, causing the area impassable to traffic. All flash flood subsided by 4 pm.
Underpass linking the Orchard MRT Station to Tangs was also flooded with 1–2 cm high water.
23 December Heavy rains in the afternoon caused flash floods, affecting Liat Towers and other areas around Orchard Road, Balestier, Cambridge Road, Monk's Hill, Cuscaden Road, Lincoln Road, United Square, Moulmein Road and the junction of Bukit Timah junction and Sixth Avenue. Within hours of the floods, national water agency, Public Utilities Board (PUB), released a media statement stating, "There was no flooding at Orchard Road. However, water ponded at the open area of Liat Towers, the underpass between Lucky Plaza and Ngee Ann City, and the basement of Lucky Plaza due to the sustained heavy downpour". PUB subsequently wrote in to newspaper Today to assert that they were not understating the situation and using doublespeak, after a reader's letter pointed out that it was sad that the agency had to "resort to word usage to dissipate the impact of these floods" when the event was clearly a "flooding" and not "ponding". PUB further stated that Today's article had misquoted their media release, where the term "ponding" was used to refer to the accumulation of rainwater at the basement areas of buildings. In response, Today's editor clarified that their headline "No floods in Orchard Rd, just 'ponding': PUB" was based on PUB's media release. In a later Parliament session, Minister of Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan said that PUB should not have used the word "ponding" to describe water-logged areas.
2012
21 January Heavy rains in the afternoon caused flash floods in parts of Singapore. These areas include Hillview Road at Bukit Timah, Swiss Club Road, as well as Jalan Tari Lilin. The water level in some affected areas subsidised shortly after the flash flood.
27 February Torrential rain in the western part of Singapore caused flash floods at Ulu Pandan and Clementi. The localised flood was due to the intense rain. The flood subsided after 20 minutes.
2 April A violent pre-dawn thunderstorm known as Sumatra squall rattled Singapore in the early hours, causing flash floods in parts of Singapore. Toh Tuck Road had the heaviest rainfall, with 95.2mm falling by 10 am that day. Three flash floods were reported. At the Marina South underpass, a drain grating was blocked by debris. Tampines Street 81 was the scene of a localised flood due to intense rain, while water at Bishan Street 21 collected in a depression in the road. All three areas remained passable to traffic despite the flash floods.
10 April The eastern and central region of Singapore were hit by flash floods, after an intense downpour in the afternoon. Affected areas included parts of Upper Paya Lebar, Lorong Ah Soo and the junction of Mt Vernon Road/Bartley Road and several areas in Tampines.
5 May