SINGAPORE - The Parkway Centre building in Marine Parade was closed on Thursday, one day after its basement and first floor were flooded when water gushed out of its sprinkler pump room.
When The Straits Times visited the place on Thursday afternoon, the entire building was cordoned off and no one was seen in the compound. The 13-storey building, which has been around since the 1980s, comprises mostly tuition and learning centres.
Businesses, including McDonald’s and Subway, were not operating on Thursday, which was the Hari Raya Haji public holiday.
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF), which was alerted to the incident at about 6am on Wednesday, said the sprinkler pump room in the building’s basement was flooded and water was flowing out to the first floor.
A sprinkler pump usually draws water from a nearby source to supply the water to be discharged by sprinklers.
SCDF firefighters pumped the water out from the room and conducted a search to ensure no one was trapped in the basement. The site was then handed over to the building management. No one was injured.
Lianhe Zaobao reported on Wednesday that there was a power outage when the flood happened and the lifts were not working.
A hairstylist working in the building told the Chinese daily that the shop had to cancel more than 10 appointments on Wednesday and estimated a loss of at least $1,000 of revenue for the day.
A worker for a different business told Zaobao that she had received a notice from the building management that the store may not be able to resume operations until Friday or even later if the damage was serious.
A spokesman for the building management said the flooding was likely due to a burst water supply pipe that leads to the water tank in the building’s basement.
She said the building’s electrical supply was switched off when the flooding happened and added that a licensed electrical worker is “working round the clock to restore power supply as soon as possible”.
“Building operations can only resume after the switchboard is restored and certified fit to operate by the licensed electrical worker,” she said, adding that the building will remain closed till Friday evening when the work is expected to complete.
“The immediate priority is the resumption of business in the mall. The cost of the incident has not been worked out... Insurers for the building have been apprised of the situation and will handle claims that may arise.”
Correction note: A previous version of this story states that PUB was involved in the switchboard restoration at Parkway Centre. Knight Frank has clarified that only the licensed electrical worker was involved.
