Once in 50 year event: Yaacob used the same excuse in 2006
November 23rd, 2009 | 
Author: 21 December 2006, Channel News Asia
By Valarie Tan
SINGAPORE: Dark skies continue to cloud over Singapore, keeping many at home and businesses in pain. A handful braved the rain but it is practically a ghost town at the East Coast hawker centre.
Shopowners say business is down some 70 percent since last Sunday. Abdul Malik, a drinks stall assistant, says: “We lowered the price of drinks by about 20 cents so people will come here to drink.” Bicycle rentals also got hit, with only two or three customers a day.
The rain has not stopped the more adventurous from coming out to enjoy the great outdoors. But with their businesses left at the mercy of the weather, most shopowners are cutting their losses quick. Part-timers are sent home two to three hours earlier than usual and shops are closing their doors at least an hour early.
Some gyms across Singapore also saw a 10 percent drop in customers as most people go away for the holidays and some are kept at home due to the recent downpour.
PUB says the recent heavy rain caused excess water from the MacRitchie and Upper Seletar reservoirs to overflow. Reservoirs are designed to hold a certain amount of water, but when there is too much rain, excess water will still spill.
At Upper Seletar Reservoir, excess water was released into the sea by opening the tide gates.
Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Environment and Water Resources Minister, says: “You can’t design for rainfall of this level, it is just too huge. The thing we can accept is that we can only design our canal of a certain size, and at the end of the day, we have to live with some of these occurrences which occur once in 50 years or so. I know it is inconvenient to some Singaporeans, but on the part of PUB and NEA, we’ll do our best to alleviate the problem as quickly as possible.”
The wet spell is likely to continue and NEA expects more flash floods in low-lying areas with high tides hitting 3.1 metres till Christmas Day.
The roads at the affected areas are back to normal and the spillage at MacRitchie Reservoir has ceased. – CNA/so
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East Coast Hawker Centre — rain or shine..the prices of food is like another newtown circus..charge very high price for low quality food. I will not go there for food.
This shows the PAP are full excuses when things happens.
Oh this only happens when multi million days paid Minister, do a cover up and “spin” a story for us to hear.
So why pay money to hear a story? When we want results! not empty words.
so vote opposition in, they will look out for our interests.
Out goes PAP, mostly highly paid, sit around, talk cock, ” minister”
So, our Multi-Million Dollar Minister Dr (PhD) Yacoob seems to be in the habit of saying “this happens once in 50 years or so”?
The fact remains that since 2006 (already three years down the road of last similar occurrence)he has done NOTHING to improve or take precautionary measures!
For the last three years, he only knows how to collect his pay and bonuses, and let his Permanent Secretary Tan Yong Soon, another SAF top scholar, to go on a continuous stretch of 5 WEEKS leave to attend a Cooking Course at the La Cordon Bleu in France (to become professional cook or crook?).
Keep posting stuff like this i really like it.