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Storms turn U-Town upside-down |
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By Jonathan Tan
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Oct. 13 2011 |
 Residents of the university town at the National University of Singapore woke up Sept. 28 to discover a storm had left behind more than just a few puddles.
The storm swept through the newly built college, uprooting a tree, over-turning rubbish bins and flooding the college residences along the way. It is not the first time a storm of such magnitude has occurred.
A storm on Sept. 27 also led to multiple complaints of flooding in college residences.
Architecture major Lee Weoi Min, 29 was among students of Tembusu whose rooms got a soaking.
“I got out of bed that morning and realised my floor was flooded. I had to use my clothes to soak up the water,” he said.
Apparently, the highest floors of Tembusu and Cinnamon College sustained the worst flooding. Plaster from the corridor walls of some levels was also eroded by the rain and wind.
Some students like Hanan Alsagoff and Lydia Melissa Chan, both 18, witnessed the immediate effects the storm had when it hit U-Town at about 3 a.m.
“I was at Starbucks when the winds started. Rubbish was flying all over the place because the dustbins had been blown over,” Alsagoff said, “It was a scary sight.”
Chan, however, was in the residence when the rain began.
“The corridor on my level started filling up like a swimming pool,” she said.
Apparently, the damage caused by this storm also revealed some underlying issues with the residential colleges’ architecture.
“I suspect there are some flaws with the residences’ infrastructure,” Lee said. “My windows were leaking even after they were closed.”
College authorities are currently looking into the matter.
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