SINGAPORE – A heavy burst of rain in the late afternoon on Thursday resulted in a flash flood in the Orchard area.

In a Twitter post at 6.08pm, national water agency PUB issued a flood risk alert for Kramat Lane and Cavenagh Road near Orchard Plaza, with water levels rising above 90 per cent of the drain capacity.

In an update on messaging app Telegram at 6.20pm, PUB advised people to avoid Kramat Lane and added that PUB officers had been deployed to render assistance.

In a second update at about 6.30pm, PUB said the flood in Kramat Lane had subsided.

It said heavy rain was expected in the southern, western and central parts of Singapore from 5.45pm until 6.45pm.

Between 5.58pm and 6.08pm, PUB issued flash-flood warnings for many other parts of the island. These included Cambridge Road, Bukit Timah Canal near Keng Lee Road, Mackenzie Road, Balestier Road, Thomson Road, Puay Hee Avenue and Siak Kew Avenue in Upper Serangoon, as well as Stamford Canal near Lucky Plaza.

On March 16, the Meteorological Service Singapore said the country can expect short periods of moderate to heavy rain on most afternoons in the later part of the month. On some occasions, the showers could continue into the evening.

Prevailing north-east monsoon conditions were forecast to continue with low-level winds blowing from the north-west or north-east.