A Multimethod Approach towards Assessing Urban Flood Patterns and Its Associated Vulnerabilities in Singapore

Table 2

Selected characteristics of notable flood events with significant impact occurring within Singapore. Rainfall, location, and damage are based on reported information from the relevant archived Straits Times article. Flash floods as defined in this study are italicised.

Date	Rainfall intensity (Changi airport)	Location	Reported damage and other relevant details
Pre-1965
22 March 1936	80.26 mm/40 mins (NA)	Central	(i) Flooding of roads and houses
			(ii) Traffic jams
			(iii) Falling trees
			(iv) Dislocation of telephone system
23 October 1954	101.6 mm/2.5 hours (NA)	Central	(i) Stoppage of airport flights
			(ii) Marooned/stranded cars
13 November 1963	42.93 mm/3 hours (0.3 mm)	South	(i) Power failure in several places
			(ii) Traffic jams
1965–1980
11 December 1969	467 mm/17 hours (NA)	Island-wide	(i) 5 killed
			(ii) 3100 people lost their homes
			(iii) Flood depth up to 2.5 m
			(iv) S4.3 million damage (2015 value of S16 million)
23 September 1971	58.4 mm/2 hours (NA)	Central	(i) Power failure
			(ii) Landslides
			(iii) Traffic jams and road accidents
			(iv) Airport delays
2 December 1978	512 mm/24 hours (NA)	Island-wide	(i) Singapore’s “worst” flood on record
			(ii) 7 deaths, 1000 people evacuated
			(iii) Flood depth reached 2 m
			(iv) Disruption of power and telephone lines
			(v) 50 roads sealed off
			(vi) S10 million damages (2015 value of S22.5 million)
			(vii) Flooding coinciding with high tide conditions
1981–1999
22 August 1983	178.1 mm/2 hours (182.0 mm/3 hours)	East	(i) Flooding of airport car park
2 March 1984	112.1 mm/12 hours (119.0 mm/3 hours)	West and Central	(i) Massive traffic jams
			(ii) Landslides and fish farms affected
			(iii) Blackouts throughout the island
			(iv) University exams delayed
18 January 1989	94.9mm/8 hours (No rain reported)	Central	(i) Traffic jams and stranded people
25 February 1997	98 mm/1 hour (27.0 mm/3 hours)	East	(i) Blackouts, flooded houses, and damaged belongings
12 July 1998	165 mm/3.5 hours (34.0 mm/3 hours)	East	(i) Shops damaged
6 January 1999	NA (10.9 mm/3 hours)	South	(i) Business goods damaged
22 December 1999	NA (12.9 mm/24 hours)	South and Central	(i) Shops flooded
			(ii) Businesses disrupted
			(iii) Flooding coinciding with high tide conditions
2000–2015
6 April 2000	166 mm/1.5 hours (3.7 mm/24 hrs)	Central	(i) 2 deaths
			(ii) “1-in-100 year storm”
16 June 2010	100 mm/3 hours (38 mm/6 hours)	Central	(i) Flood depth 0.3 m
			(ii) Traffic jam
			(iii) Shops damaged
25 June 2010	100 mm/1 hour (26 mm/3 hours)	Central	(i) Traffic congestion
			(ii) Insurance claims of S23 million (2015 value of S25.3 million)
5 May 2012	68.6 mm/0.5 hours (0.2 mm/3 hours)	Central and North	(i) Flood depth 0.25 m
5 September 2013	102.8 mm/1.5 hours (25.2 mm/6 hours)	West	(i) Part of major highway shut down
			(ii) Traffic jam
			(iii) Flood depth 0.5 m
			(iv) Flooding coinciding with high tide conditions
29 July 2014	49.4 mm/30 mins (29 mm/6 hours)	Central	(i) Traffic jam

When applicable, precipitation data in parenthesis are reported from the WMO meteorological station of record at Changi airport.
Specific locations in parenthesis are categorised into specific sectors of Singapore (north, south, east, west, and central).