HDB flat flooded at least 3 times

WHEN Mr Gary Poon woke up last Sunday, his entire three-room flat in Toa Payoh was flooded.

Almost 8cm of water, oil and dirt covered his two bedrooms, living room and kitchen, destroying a new $800 carpet.

It was the third time in less than three weeks that Mr Poon's second-floor flat in Lorong 1 had been inundated since he first reported the problem to the maintenance body on Dec 18.

He later made two more reports when the flooding occurred again early this month.

The 49-year-old bachelor is not sure what is causing the flooding.'Something is seriously wrong somewhere,' he said. 'Every day, I tiptoe into my flat like the Pink Panther, not knowing if it will be flooded with water.'

When The Straits Times visited the flat last Sunday, the taxi driver was mopping up his living room. He said the flat was covered in water a few hours earlier. He suspects the water may have come from a blocked pipe in his living room, but even when it was flushed, the flooding continued.

When contacted, a spokesman for the Bishan- Toa Payoh Town Council said the problem was a 'technical issue involving building maintenance'.

'The council has contacted the resident and is working to resolve the matter,' he said.

Mr Poon said the flooding first started in August last year and his flat was flooded on three more occasions after that. However, he did not report the problem to anyone until the fifth flooding.

'The leakage was first limited to the living room. I just mopped it away and thought nothing of the matter,' he said.

But it got worse and the water spread from the living room to the kitchen and to the bedrooms.

He contacted Emergency Services on Dec 18 to lodge a complaint after the flat, located at Block 100, was flooded for the fifth time.

'I had finally lost patience,' he said.

To his surprise, contractors sent by Emergency Services did nothing. 'They just referred the case to another department and left,' he said.

About two weeks later, the flat flooded again.

Emergency Services alerted the town council and it sent two contractors to investigate. They flushed the pipes running into his flat, saying they may have been blocked.

On Jan 1, the council told him that the matter would be resolved by Jan 3. But on Jan 4, his flat was flooded again - for the seventh time.

'The water was everywhere and reached my ankle. It was filled with foam, dirt and oil,' he said.

The flat directly below Mr Poon's has also been affected. When The Straits Times visited the place, the owner, who wanted to be known only as Ms Tan, said the water pipe in her kitchen connected to the flat above would occasionally leak. But she said the problem was not as serious in her flat.

Source: Straits Times, Jan 9 2009