Flooding Cannot Be Prevented
Thursday, 22nd July 2010
Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew has said no amount of engineering can prevent flooding in Singapore. He said after touring the waterfront development at the areas around Kallang River.
Mr Lee was asked if he thought the various agencies response to the recent spate of floods in Singapore was sufficient. He replied: "How can you say that the response is sufficient? At the same time, whatever we do when we get extraordinary rains like we had recently, no amount of engineering can prevent flooding." Singaporeans have reacted to the strings of incident of floods in different parts of Singapore. Mr Lee added: "Somethings are beyond (that); it's an act of God unless you want to lose half the roads and have canals."
Singapore has a long history of flooding, due mainly to the island being in the path of the monsoons. According to historical records, the floods in December 1954 lasted 4 days and 5 people lost their lives. It affected 50,000 people and the worst affected areas were Potong Pasir, Braddell and Paya Lebar. And in December 1959 and June 1960, Bukit Timah was submerged in high water. 1967, Singapore was hit by another massive floods. And again in 1969, more than 3,000 people had to be evacuated that cause five dead. Another big one to hit Singapore was September 1971 when a 40 km/hour Sumatra storm again caused flooring, landslides and massive traffic jams throughout the island. In December 1978, a monster flash flood that coincided with a high tide caused six death.