Flood

Floods have recently been a hit in Singapore and have been hitting the headlines on newsprint publications. Seems that we must be mentally prepared to expect a flood every time we go out now

Old newspapers appear everywhere on the ground of shops to absorb water while newspapers supposed to be delivered to houses vanished to nowhere. Cars are soaked in water so badly that one might need an ultra bamboo stick to hang it dry. People end up sitting on tables instead of chairs in kopitiams

PUB claimed that a culvert was blocked by debris which resulted in the first flash flood at Orchard Road last month. However, Saturday morning's sequel proved that that is not really the main problem since the drain has been cleared

Did Marina Barrage play a part? This dam was built to increase Singapore's water catchment areas and alleviate flooding in low lying places. Well, it did by holding back Kallang River

Dams are made to hold river water while this one is used to hold water back from the sea. The other side of it blocks run-off water from rain from flowing to the sea. The outcome of this is of course floods in areas (like Orchard Road) that look impossible to have a flood for a long, long time

Water flows from high to low. The water level in Marina area is higher than than one of the sea. Therefore, when the Marina Barrage gates open and water flows, it is flowing from within the Marina area to the open sea

That is where problems occur. An inland flood will result in water stranded there as it is not flowing quick enough to the pool. Because the Marina area's level is higher than the sea so water is accumulated at a slower rate

If there was no such thing as Marina Barrage, the Marina area and the sea would be at an equal level meaning that the latter is still higher as a whole

And who was the one who came up with this reservoir?