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    Singapore battles persistent downpours

    ANN/THE STRAITS TIMES – Many weekend plans in Singapore were disrupted by heavy rain, including travel arrangements.

    Over the weekend, more than 50 Singapore Airlines flights were delayed or rescheduled due to the persistent bad weather, according to a spokesman for the airline.

    At the Aloha Sea Sports Centre in East Coast Park, typically a busy spot for water sports like stand-up paddleboarding and windsurfing, the constant rain led to 10 cancellations, said general manager Loh Fock Jin.

    He noted, “We’ve had zero business. This is an unusual season – the north-east monsoon should be entering a dry spell by now with strong trade winds, but things are unpredictable.”

    The unseasonably wet weather is caused by a monsoon surge, where increased wind speeds push cold air southwards across the South China Sea.

    The national water agency PUB had warned of flash floods, and the National Environment Agency forecast temperatures as low as 22 degree Celsius in some areas.

    Outdoor activities have naturally been the hardest hit, with at least two golfing events on Saturday – one at the Changi Golf Club and one at the Singapore Island Country Club – also disrupted, according to online notices.

    SRU general manager Sidney Kumar added that the weekend’s training sessions for hundreds of children in the Junior Rugby Clubs Singapore programme had also been cancelled.

    A beach clean-up at Pulau Ubin, organised by Drama Box for Saturday, was also nixed.

    The downpour also resulted in the temporary closure of lifts in a Serangoon Housing Board block on Saturday due to “water ingress”, Ang Mo Kio Town Council said in a Facebook post on the same day.

    Last Friday, residents of Block 454 Choa Chu Kang Avenue 4 had to make do with just one working lift, after two lifts were declared out of service due to water seepage caused by the heavy rain.

    Pedestrian use umbrella under heavy rain in Singapore. PHOTO: THE STRAITS TIMES
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