Block 81 Marine Parade Central coffee shop became river safari twice in 2 months

Wet.

Joshua Lee | September 07, 2018, 04:49 PM

A kopitiam at Block 81 Marine Parade Central has been battered by the elements.

Via Google Maps.

The coffee shop, which sells quite tasty fare, has been flooded quite a few times the past few months whenever it rains.

This is according to a reader, who only wants to be known as Yap.

Submitted by Yap.

Yap was at the kopitiam at 12.15pm on Sept. 7 to buy lunch, when he found that it less than accessible compared to dry days.

From the photo Yap sent, the water level was about ankle-deep.

Yap wrote:

"Some people shouted their orders across to takeaway food from higher ground (where it is drier)... I believe the hawkers were busy preparing food for those people. They [then had to] waddle across the wet surface to deliver the food (to customers)."

Yap himself wanted to get fishball noodles, but had recently injured his leg, so he could not stay long at the kopitiam that had been submerged partially.

In response to Mothership queries, the Marine Parade Town Council said that the flooding on Sept. 7 was not due to a clogged pipe and is under the purview of HDB and PUB.

Previously flooded

Yap also informed Mothership that this wasn't the first time the place flooded.

A quick Google search revealed the following video from 2013:

A similar problem also occurred in August 2018.

This set of photos was posted on Facebook by former Straits Times political correspondent Ismail Kassim in July 2018:

If you can't see the photos, here they are:

Image by Ismail Kassim.

Image by Ismail Kassim.

Image by Ismail Kassim.

Image by Ismail Kassim.

[Edit: This article was updated with Marine Parade Town Council's response.]

Top image via Yap and Facebook