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Rare floods sweep through Singapore again. A trail of damage greeted many Singaporeans
on Saturday, July 17, as intense torrential rains set off flash floods in eastern and
central regions, including Bukit Timah, Upper Thomson and Telok Kurau. Floodwaters were
waist-deep in some areas, uprooting trees, severely disrupting traffic and causing power
loss. Singapore’s Civil Defense Force personnel came to the aid of at least 60 people stranded
in vehicles as some 179 millimeters of rain was recorded in just two hours’ time, which
is 20 millimeters more than the average rainfall for all of July. Although until recently,
flooding of this magnitude was considered very rare, occurring about once every 50 years,
Singapore’s Minister for Environment and Water Resources Yaacob Ibrahim observed that
the city-state has been hit by these extreme conditions four times within just a two-month
period this year.
With our prayers for the Singaporean people, we send our appreciation to all the Civil
Defense Force and other personnel working to assist the flood-afflicted. May such unusual
weather extremities be curbed as we strive to adopt more eco-stabilizing ways�