Resilience against flash flooding required:

With climate change expected to cause more erratic rainfall patterns, Singapore's approach to dealing with flash floods has been expanded, said national water agency PUB chief executive Ong Tze-Ch'in.

- Shabana Begum Correspondent

The Government will continue to invest in drainage infrastructure, but on top of that, PUB recognises the need to build up societal resilience against flash flooding, he added.

"We have come to the realisation that we cannot possibly prevent every flooding event," said Mr Ong, 50, in an interview with The Straits Times on Nov 28, as the country enters the rainy northeast monsoon season - the wettest period of the year.

According to Singapore's third national climate change study, the growing amount of planet-warming gases in the atmosphere is expected to bring heavier, more intense and frequent storms.

In January, monsoon surges - weather events that happen during monsoon the wet phase of the north-east - dumped large amounts of rain over the country in a short period of time.

The first surge episode in early January led to a nearly three-hour flood in Jalan Seaview in Mountbatten, caused by the confluence of high tides and prolonged rain.

Most flash floods here do not last for more than an hour.

"I think there is still a sense maybe that flash floods should not even happen in Singapore. But with climate change, from time to time, we can expect flash floods to happen," he said, in his first media interview since he took over the reins of the agency in late 2023.

"We want to get to the stage where (a flash flood) is not such a shock as and when it happens," he added. But a lot more work is needed to build the resilience of the populace, and the first thing is to adjust the public's mindsets about flash floods here, Mr Ong noted.

Mr Ong was formerly the deputy secretary of resilience at the Ministry of Sustainability and the Environment, overseeing water and food policies between 2021 and 2023. In that role, he also covered communications, partnerships and engagement at the ministry.

That experience, he said, taught him that climate action requires inputs from all of society.