Freak flood silences Orchard Road tills
Businesses count the costs and insurers gear up for claims as massive downpour wreaks damage
By UMA SHANKARI AND FELDA CHAY
(SINGAPORE) Businesses in Singapore's foremost shopping district found themselves under water yesterday as a massive downpour flooded the area for the first time in more than 25 years.
Water cascaded into buildings and stores at the junction of Orchard and Scotts roads, causing hundreds of thousands of dollars of damage and lost sales. Retailers and F&B outlets saw takings evaporate as shoppers and the lunchtime crowd stayed away.
'This is the heaviest and most severe flood I can recall in the area,' said Orchard Road Business Association spokesman Stephen Goh.
Almost 100mm of rain - more than 60 per cent of the monthly average for June - fell between about 9am and 11am. National water agency PUB said that flood water was up to 30cm deep at the intersection of Orchard and Scotts roads. The last major flooding at this spot was in 1984. PUB will investigate once the water level in drains subsides.
Other parts of central Singapore such as Coronation Road West, Fourth Avenue, Kings Road, Kheam Hock Road and Veerasamy Road also suffered flooding, though the water had subsided by noon.
In last November's flood in the Bukit Timah area, 92 mm of rain fell in about half an hour during lunch time. The total amount of rainfall logged in the area was 110mm - accounting for 43 per cent of the average monthly rainfall for November.
In yesterday's flooding, older Orchard Road properties such as Lucky Plaza, Liat Towers and Tong Building were hit hardest as water poured into buildings and swamped shops, carparks and some underpasses.
At Liat Towers, retailers Hermes and Massimo Dutti and F&B players Wendy's and Starbucks had to shut up shop as water started rushing into their below-ground space around 10am.
At Starbucks, flooding started just after 10am - and civil defence workers were still pumping out water at 3pm. At its height, the flood was as high as the shop's tables. 'We will assess the condition of the store after the water subsides to determine when we can re-open for business,' a spokesman said.
Wendy's is also checking damage to equipment, goods and infrastructure before deciding when to re-open. The fast-food outlet only started business at Liat Towers on Monday after $500,000 was spent on renovations. A spokesman said that Wendy's hopes to be able to resume operations in two weeks.
At Lucky Plaza, basement shops inundated, and most of the shops were still mopping up in the afternoon. Shoe shop Relantino Leathers put its damage at $7,000-$8,000, and said it may be closed for two or three days. Some hotels in the area were affected, as goods could not be delivered because loading and unloading bays were flooded.
Flooding was also reported in the Tong Building's underground carpark and the underpass between Lucky Plaza and Ngee Ann City, said the Orchard Road Business Association.
Its spokesman Mr Goh said that older buildings took the biggest hit because, unlike newer properties, their design does not prevent rainwater from overflowing into basements.
Newer properties were drenched too, though not as badly. Water seeped into the common area in Wisma Atria's first level, but this was 'promptly addressed', said Jaclyn Ng, general manager of YTL Starhill Global Property Management, which runs the retail trust that owns stakes in Wisma Atria and neighbouring mall Ngee Ann City.
Businesses will now make insurance claims to recoup the losses they suffered in the deluge.
'The Massimo Dutti store (at Liat Towers) is adequately insured,' said a spokeswoman for RSH, which handles the label in Singapore. 'There were no customers inside the store during the flash flood. All staff on duty are safe and no one was injured.'
Insurers will pay - as long as the claims are valid. The General Insurance Association of Singapore said that businesses should check their fire insurance policies - which usually cover flooding - and make sure they know what is covered or not covered before making a claim.
It is too early to assess the overall damage and level of claims, said NTUC Income's senior vice-president and general manager for general insurance Pui Phusangmook. 'In the meantime, customers can count on us to honour all policy terms relating to flood damage, and to handle their claims fairly and promptly.'
Copyright © 2010 Singapore Press Holdings Ltd. All rights reserved.
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