Singapore, whih has been facing heavy downpour for the past few days, witnessed flash floods on the Christmas Eve. According to the Land Transport Authority, Newton Circus (towards Woodlands) after Cavenagh Road, Stevens Road near Anderson Road, Balmoral Road near Balmoral Crescent, Cairnhill Road near Cairnhill Road and PIE (towards Changi Airport) at Stevens Rd Exit are the worst affected.
Twitterati is flooding the microblogging site with images of the flash floods. The National Environment Agency (NEA) has been updating its twitter page on the effects, several accidents have also taken place in different parts of the country. Looks like even the trains were not spared and pictures of water logging inside the train are doing the rounds.
Pedestrians were seen crossing through ankle-deep water on Orchard Road at the junction outside Heeren, a video sent by a Straits Times reader showed. There are also reports of heavy traffic jams across the nation.
The Christmas is likely to be affected by this heavy downpour as some eateries are closed due to waterlogging. Meanwhile, The Strait Times has reported that the traffic towards Changi International Airport has hit an all-time high record due to Christmas even and floods. The reported stated the number of vehicles as195,000, the highest in 35 years. It is also likely to increase over the weekend.
The government has deployed extra checkpoint to handle the traffic surge. Facilities like self-service kiosks for check-in and luggage tagging are also enabled. The airport is working closely with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority to make sure that the counters are adequate. The food and beverage counters are also alerted to be prepared with rising demand. The airport has also deployed staffs at the taxi counters to help passengers load and unload their baggage—this is to avoid the long taxi queues.
"The busy year-end period is a special time for many travelers as they journey home or head off for a holiday with their loved ones," Changi Airport Group's senior vice-president (passenger experience) Albert Lim was quoted saying by Strait Times.
The authorities are providing everything possible to give passengers a seamless experience.
