Toa Payoh hawker centre turns into pool due to clogged drain

A clogged drain at a hawker centre in Toa Payoh Lorong 7, Block 22 has turned the place into a dirty yellow pool, with dirty sewage surging out.

The incident happened on Wednesday morning (May 3) and some stalls were left submerged in the filthy, ankle-deep water, reports Lianhe Wanbao.

Customers have fled and business has been affected adversely, complained stall owners. 

Among the most badly hit were four stalls, which usually operate in the mornings.

The owners had arrived on Wednesday morning, only to find that the stalls were flooded. 

A 35-year-old owner of a Thai food stall told reporters that when he arrived at 9am on Wednesday to set up business, only to find that dirty water trickling out of the closed doors, and all over the floor. 

Said the unhappy owner:

“This isn’t the first time.

“Each time the drain becomes clogged, we would call the Town Council and they would dispatch people down, so the situation wasn’t that bad.”

However, this time, the incident happened while the stalls were closed, and they discovered it only the following day. 

According to the stall owner’s estimate, business had gone down by as much as 50 percent. 

A stall owner said that the situation had been ongoing for three years, and the clogging would occur once every month.

As such, the stall owners are always on edge. 

Reporters also observed that the filthy water appeared greasy and had a layer of oil coating the surface.

There were remnants of food in the water and a horrid stench overpowered the fragrance of the dishes prepared at the hawker centre. 

A 41-year-old owner of a Hokkien mee stall said that her business had fallen by about 20 percent and for hygiene purposes, she has stopped making min jiang kueh altogether. 

The pool of water also posed a safety hazard, and vendors told reporters that a youth and an elderly woman had slipped.