Bukit Timah condo installs flood barriers
Residents of The Tessarina condominium at Bukit Timah still remember vividly how their cars were submerged in their underground carpark when flash floods hit last July.
But there will be no repeat of such a nasty episode for the condo - one of the worst-hit - or so the residents hope.
They now have six new flood barriers at the condo's exits, a closed-circuit television camera to monitor the nearby Bukit Timah Canal and a raised road - all by the residents' own efforts.
After the floods, the 400 households there got together and put in $90,000 to install the barriers, which will stave off rain water flowing down from the 190m-long Wilby Road, where the condo is located. Also new is a closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera for the security guards to observe the water level of a nearby section of the canal: When it reaches too high a level, the flood barriers will be activated.
Driving the efforts was resident Audrey Tan, 39, a dermatologist who filmed the rising flood waters last year and approached her MP, Mr Christopher de Souza, and national water agency PUB for help.
Mr de Souza then called for meetings with PUB and the Land Transport Authority (LTA). One idea was to raise Wilby Road, which LTA did.
After three months of construction work at a cost of $840,000, borne by the authority, the road is now higher by half a metre.
Yesterday, Mr de Souza surveyed the new barriers, which took about 20 days to be completed. They were installed by German-based environmental engineering company Blobel.
This is the company's first foray into flood mitigation in Singapore, said its managing director Norbert Blobel. He said other residences have approached it for similar flood-control work, and there are about six upcoming projects being discussed.
Residents such as manager James Gwee, 41, are happy with the new measures. 'We don't have to wake up in the middle of the night when it rains any more.'
Poon Chian Hui
At The Tessarina, one of the places worst-hit by floods last July, security guards can now monitor the water level at the nearby canal using a CCTV camera (above), and activate the condo's flood barriers (top) when necessary. -- ST PHOTOS: CAROLINE CHIA
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