The day it rained indoors - Channel NewsAsia

The day it rained indoors - Channel NewsAsia

SINGAPORE: Tanglin Mall, located at the junction of Tanglin Road and Grange Road, was the worst hit by floods caused by heavy rainfall on Sunday morning.

National water agency PUB said the extent of the flood at Tanglin Mall was something it had not seen in the last 25 years.

It added this was the first time the basement of Tanglin Mall had experienced this.

Many stores had to close temporarily for clean-up.

Zhai manager Karen Foo said: "We have to rescue all our stocks first, that's the first thing. All the shops were flooded as well, and they were closing down their gates".

Family-Com salesperson Dominic Ngiam said: "The shop was flooded to about ankle-level and everyone was running around. The car park was flooded (and) cars were stuck. So everyone was frustrated (and) confused".

Shoppers who had problems getting to their cars had to wait until they were given the green light to get to the car park.

One shopper said: "We went down to (the) basement and queued to try to get out, but some other cars had turned around and come back down to the B3 level, so it was clear that it was stuck above.

"We made sure we parked the car and got the children out before the (water) level got any higher".

Floods also hit a nearby car park.

A car service company employee sent Channel NewsAsia a video of the car park at St. Regis.

He said a resident whose car was stalled had called him for assistance.

Elsewhere, other retail malls at Orchard Road had to deal with the aftermath of the flood.

The clean up at Forum Shopping Mall lasted for about two hours.

This isn't the first time the area had been affected by heavy rain, but employees who were interviewed said the flood is worse this time.

The Little Gym instructor PJ Lucero said: "The last time it happened, it was actually more mild.

"We were still able to open the facility for the day. Today (Sunday), of course, everything got submerged, that's why we had to close down.

"In fact, after the first time it happened, we had sandbags ready. We did use those sandbags today (but) it didn't work. The water just went through it".

Spinelli Coffee Company retail store manager, Forum Shopping Mall Chen Jiahui said: "This is the second time (it flooded). It's really bad, so I hope that the management are doing something about it".

PUB said the rainfall Sunday morning was more intense than that of June last year, when various parts of Orchard Road were flooded.

About 65mm of rainfall was recorded within 30 mins on Sunday morning, compared to 100mm within two hours on June 16, 2010.

-CNA/wk