Thunder, lightning - and hailstones as well
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Heavy rain amid stormy weather yesterday led to flash floods in Seletar North (above) as well as uprooted trees in Yishun and Yio Chu Kang. Some people reported seeing hailstones falling with the rain.
ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG
Lydia Lam
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Stormy weather led to downpours across the island yesterday, causing flash floods in Seletar, felling trees and even raining hailstones.
Some readers reported seeing the tiny balls of ice falling with the rain around 4.30pm.
Ms Junawati Ashak told The Straits Times that it "rained ice" at Seletar Airport at around 4.30pm.
The 45-year-old receptionist at Jet Aviation Singapore said she was in the lobby when she saw the sky darkening outside.
"It rained very heavily and there was a storm with very strong wind. Then the rain came down with ice."
Another reader, who gave her name only as Madam Lee M.L., said she was in her Yishun home at about 4.45pm when she heard a clattering sound.
"The rain came quite suddenly, there was very loud thunder and lightning as well," said the 47-year-old who lives on the fourth floor of a condominium. "When I looked out, I saw some white cubes hitting the glass door of the balcony. I thought they looked like ice cubes."
Madam Lee said there were about five hailstones the size of 5-and 10-cent coins. "It's so amazing to see this on my balcony. I've seen snow before but not hail."
Hail is rare in Singapore but not unheard of. In 2014, hailstones were reportedly seen in Turf Club Road during a heavy downpour. In 2013, a rare hailstorm uprooted trees and disrupted traffic.
The last reported incidence of hail before that was in 2009.
According to the National Environment Agency's website, hail is produced only by cumulonimbus or thunderstorm clouds.
Yesterday's heavy rain caused flash floods on both lanes of Seletar North Link Road at about 5.15pm. The floods subsided about half an hour later.
PUB said in a statement yesterday that it is in the process of constructing two temporary drains in the area to alleviate flooding.
The first drain will be completed in mid-February, while the other is slated for completion by May. More permanent drainage solutions are being planned along with upcoming developments in the area.
The stormy weather also felled a few trees in Yishun and Yio Chu Kang yesterday. At 5.10pm, the Yio Chu Kang Road exit from the Tampines Expressway to the Seletar Expressway was closed due to a tree that blocked the road.
