Bachelor’s flat flooded several times

 
Last Sunday, Mr. Gary Poon woke up with his three-room Toa Payoh flat entirely flooded. A mixture of dirt, oil and water about 8 centimetres covered Mr. Poon’s kitchen, living room and two bedrooms, with his new carpet worth $800 also destroyed.

This was the third time that his Lorong 1 flat was swamped in three weeks, since December 18, when he first told the maintenance group about the problem. He subsequently passed another two reports when the flood happened once more early this month.

“I am an affected resident. It is the town council's job to solve this problem,” Mister Poon, 49, said. He is also not sure of what is the cause of the flooding.

There was also a taxi driver who expressed his sentiment over the matter. “Every day I live in constant worry of returning home to a flooded flat. Why should I have to live like this?” he said.

A Bishan-Toa Payoh Town Council spokesman said that the flooding was a “technical issue involving building maintenance. The council has contacted the resident and is working to resolve the matter”.

According to Mr. Poon, the flooding began last year, particularly in August, and the flat that he owns again suffered the flood three more times after that. However, Mr. Poon remained silent regarding the problem until his flat was again flooded for the 5th time.

“The leakage was first limited to the living room. I just mopped it away and thought nothing of the matter,” said Mr. Poon. Unfortunately, the flooding got more complicated as the water reached to the kitchen from the living room, as well as the bedrooms.

On December 18, he contacted the Emergency Services to file a complaint, as the Block 100 (situated at the back of his flat) suffered the flooding for the fifth time. “I had finally lost patience,” Mr. Poon said.

Unexpectedly, the contractors that the Emergency Services sent didn’t do anything. “They just referred the case to another department and left,” Mr. Poon said.