Daily Lessons from Life 17 June 2010 - PUB: Heavy rain and debris likely cause of Orchard flood

"Thu, Jun 17, 2010 AsiaOne - PUB: Heavy rain and debris likely cause of Orchard flood

In a press statement released today, the Public Utilities Board (PUB) said that intense rainfall and debris in the drainage system was the reason for floods along the Orchard Road shopping district.

The PUB said in the statement that it conducted a thorough investigation into the cause of the floods in Orchard Road yesterday. This included a hydraulic analysis and thorough physical checks of the drainage system for Stamford Canal."

Man is no match to the ferocious force of nature especially when carelessness crept into its well planned defences. The sudden heavy downpour that dump almost 60% of rainfall in the month of June on one short and intense morning created a new 'river' at the busy shopping belt of Orchard Road in Singapore. Some dubbed it: Orchard River!

Lessons for me are:

1. while you may have the best drainage system in the world, it does not guarantee safety for you if you have people working on other projects around the drainage system and did not observed good work practices to prevent blockage of the drainage system - like what most likely had happened in this 'man-assisted' natural disaster!;

2. it is easy to be careless when you are working on short term issues around issues that required long term attention and short term execution! IF debris were indeed the culprits, I wonder how the relevant authorities are going to be able to identify who discarded them and who should be accountable for them and hence be responsible for the multi-million damages to soaked properties and lost businesses. It is likely to be made a 'killing-1-to-warn-a-1oo' case should anyone be brought to the court over this!;

3. the root causes of the investigation MUST be published and publicized. It should serve as a reminder to us, human, that planning well is just a part of the holistic approach to preventing 'man-assisted' natural disaster. Executing the plan well, including the peripheral bits in the meantime while keeping an eye on the long term effects, is the only insurance against tripping over.

The good news is that the rain did not come today. So, Orchard 'River' has become Orchard Road again. The hard work of picking through the wreckage begins... The business will return. Just that short term pain will be suffered!