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 Lorong 1 flat 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.

'I am an affected resident. It is the town council's job to solve this problem,' said the 49-year-old bachelor, who is not sure what is causing the flooding.

'Every day I live in constant worry of returning home to a flooded flat. Why should I have to live like this?' said the taxi driver who works the night shift.

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.

Read the full story in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.