Rain finally eases and work to repair damage kicks off

After two consecutive days of downpours that triggered landslips and flooding around the island, the rain finally began to ease yesterday, with slivers of blue sky and streaks of sunshine emerging in some spots for the first time in 2021.

The mercury inched up and water levels receded at flooded areas, though the weather remained cool and windy with an average temperature of 24 deg C at Changi climate station as at 5pm.

The lowest daily minimum temperature was 22.3 deg C in Jurong West yesterday, up from 21.1 deg C recorded in Newton on Saturday.

Works to repair the damage inflicted kicked off, with areas in Havelock, Fort Canning and Loyang cordoned off as repairs were done.

HERITAGE TREE

At Fort Canning Park, heavy storms sent a 22m-tall tree on the slope of Fort Canning Hill crashing down on Saturday morning, with some of its branches landing on the sheltered outdoor escalators that connected Fort Canning MRT station to the hill's peak.

Mr Ryan Lee, group director of Fort Canning Park and Istana at the National Parks Board, said that the heritage tree - a ficus kurzii or Burmese banyan - had uprooted as a result of soil failure because of the consecutive days of heavy rain.

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A video circulated on social media also showed a landslip taking place in Pasir Ris. The impact of the landslip, which took place beside the slip road of Tampines Expressway heading towards Loyang Avenue on Saturday, caused seven drain railings by a monsoon drain to give way.

The slip road has been closed since Saturday night as a precautionary measure, to facilitate repair works on the slope.

Heavy rain also led to a landslip on a slope that connected Outram Secondary School to the Furama Riverfront hotel on Saturday, near Jalan Minyak and York Hill.

There were also minor landslips at Kusu Island, Lazarus Island and St John's Island on Saturday.

The highest daily total rainfall recorded was 6.6mm at Simei and East Coast Parkway as at 5pm yesterday, a sharp dip from the 210.6mm recorded at the Changi climate station on Saturday.

For the next few days, thundery showers are expected in the afternoon, and the temperature is forecast to range between 24 deg C and 33 deg C, said the Meteorological Service Singapore yesterday.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING: KEVIN LIM