Heavy rain causes flooding at People's Park Complex
Water from car park overflows into shop areas on first 3 storeys
There was flooding on three storeys of People's Park Complex in Chinatown during a heavy afternoon downpour yesterday.
The flooding started around 1.20pm at the car park, shopkeepers told The New Paper. The water then overflowed into the complex where the shops are, with flooding several inches deep on the first three storeys.
The 31-floor high-rise commercial and residential building has six floors of shops and offices.
When a TNP team arrived at about 4pm following a reader's tip-off, rainwater was still leaking into shops on the ground floor.
Several cleaners were seen mopping and vacuuming the wet floor.
Ms Emerald Tang, 33, who has a perfume shop on the second storey, said the water damaged many of her products which were placed on the floor.
She said: "There was no elevation so the cartons got soggy. Because of the soggy products at the bottom, some of the products at the top fell."
She said about 5 per cent of her products, which included luxury fragrances like Chanel and Dior, were damaged. Most could no longer be sold.
She estimated her loss at about $200,000.
Ms Tang said: "The flooding began very suddenly. All the tenants at this back row of shops had to work together using anything we had to sweep the water back."
Ms Tan Rou Sin, 25, an employee of Sinchong Traditional Chinese Medicine, said there was so much water in the shop the staff spent about two hours soaking up the water with rags and wringing them dry.
"By the time the cleaning contractors arrived, we had already cleaned the area up ourselves," she said.
Ms Helen Low Lee Chin, 42, said the flood was the worst in the 20 years or so she has worked at Golden Watch Gold & Jewellery, which is on the first storey of the complex. "It's the first time I've ever seen anything like that. I got a shock when I saw the water flowing down from upstairs," she said.
Many shop owners voiced concerns over the damage to their shops.
Some, like Ms Tan, were worried that the moisture would cause the wood furnishing in their shops to warp.
Others, like Mr Steven Chong, 61, who owns an optical shop on the third storey, were worried that the carpeting in their shops might smell.
Many also complained that the flooding affected their businesses.
Mr Chai said: "We couldn't do business for at least three hours because customers could not enter our shop."
Ms Eileen Ling, a beautician at Jia Ling Beauty Care, said: "When the water came, we had to rush our customers upstairs to safety. I was in the middle of threading a customer's eyebrows."
TNP contacted the People's Park Complex management several times yesterday, but it declined to comment.
PUB, the national water agency, said Craig Road and Commonwealth Lane also experienced flash floods yesterday due to heavy rains.
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