Heavy rain triggers flash flood near Bugis, warnings in several locations

SINGAPORE: Heavy rain triggered a flash flood at Ophir Road near Bugis and flash flood warnings for several locations in Singapore on Sunday (Nov 17).
The heaviest rainfall of 67.4mm was recorded in southern Singapore from 1.10pm to 2.55pm, national water agency PUB said on its Facebook page.
“This amount corresponds to 27 per cent of Singapore’s average monthly rainfall in November, and lies within the top 12 per cent of maximum daily rainfall records since 1978,” it said.
The areas where flood risk warnings were issued included Upper Hokkien Street/South Bridge Road, Tanjong Pagar Road/Craig Road and Jalan Boon Lay (Enterprise Road to International Road). 
Sunday’s downpour came just a day after the northwestern part of the country received one of the highest recorded daily rainfalls in 46 years.
PUB issued an advisory at around 1.30pm on Sunday, saying to expect heavy rain over the northern, southern and western areas of Singapore.
The flash flood at Ophir Road took place just after 2pm due to “high water levels in the adjacent drains”, and subsided within an hour.
“While traffic remained passable, PUB’s quick response team and the Land Transport Authority’s EMAS vehicle recovery crew were deployed on site to provide assistance to motorists,” said PUB.
With the onset of the Northeast Monsoon in the second half of November, moderate to heavy showers are expected across Singapore in the afternoons on most days, it added.
“Sudden and intense storms can temporarily overwhelm our canals and drains and cause localised flash floods, which typically subside within an hour.”
On Saturday, flash flood warnings were issued for 10 locations across Singapore, with the heaviest rainfall of 108.4mm recorded in northwestern Singapore from 2.10pm to 4pm.
This amount is about 43 per cent of Singapore’s average monthly rainfall in November, and lies within the top 3 per cent of maximum daily rainfall records since 1978, PUB said on Saturday.
In its fortnightly forecast released on Friday, the Meteorological Service Singapore said that moderate to heavy thundery showers are expected on most days until the end of November due to the north-east monsoon.
The Met Service also forecast the total rainfall for the two weeks to be “above average” over most parts of the island.
On some rainy days, daily temperature lows of about 23 degrees Celsius can be expected, it added.