SINGAPORE: The Public Utilities Board (PUB) has launched an investigation after a burst pipe caused a large amount of water to gush outside *Scape Shopping Mall on Orchard Road, this Thursday (Apr 11).
A 47-second video of the “geyser” seen gushing several meters high was published on the SG Road Vigilante Facebook page and has since gone viral, with over 69,000 views in less than 24 hours.
The caption reads, “11apr2024 grange road scape park water pipe bursted became wild wild wet”
The leak responsible for the strong water flow came from a NEWater pipeline at a construction site close to *Scape Shopping Mall.
The Straits Times reported that PUB received an alert regarding the burst pipe at around 2:15 on Thursday afternoon. Soon after the service crew from the agency arrived at the scene, they turned off the water supply to the pipe.
“We immediately deployed our service crew and the leak has been isolated. Repair works are ongoing. PUB is investigating the cause of the leak,” a spokesperson from PUB was quoted as saying. Fortunately, the issue was addressed within half an hour, as the pipe burst at 2pm and was isolated by 2:30pm.
A spokesperson from the mall said that neither its operations nor the traffic in the area had been affected by the burst pipe, adding that the construction had been part of renovation works on the mall which was announced in 2022 and are scheduled for completion this year.
“With regard to the video circulating on social media, a pipe burst occurred at 2 pm and was isolated at about 2.30 pm. Operations at *Scape and traffic in the area were not affected,” the *Scape spokesperson is quoted in ST as saying.
Since the video was published on the SG Road Vigilante Facebook page, some commenters expressed concern over the amount of water going to waste, while others were surprised at the strength of the water’s gush.
“This is just a pipe burst and the water pressure is already so strong. Imagine tsunami,” one wrote.
Another netizen, however, said he was glad that the trees and grass would get enough water that day, especially since it’s been so hot in Singapore lately.
Others, however, took the burst pipe more humorously, joking that they thought Songkran, Thailand’s new year and water festival, had come early. /TISG
Read also: Burst PUB pipe floods newly renovated HDB unit just as family was about to move in