Strong winds, heavy rains and all HAIL breaks loose
While the recent strong winds and heavy downpour brought relief from the persistent haze, it also left a trail of destruction yesterday.
There were the usual falling branches and uprooted trees, but at The Grandstand Car Mall at Turf Club Road, there was an unwelcome bonus - hail.
Used car dealer James D, 42, said he heard loud thuds as hail pelted the polycarbonate roof and roads nearby.
He turned and spotted ice pellets about the size of 50-cent coins.
"I knew that there was heavy rain, from the sound of thunder, but I was not expecting hailstones," he said.
It happened yesterday at around 2.30pm.
The car dealer he works for is located under the second storey roof carpark. The winds and heavy downpour brought down the polycarbonate roofs covering some areas.
James said he was so worried that he hid in his office until the storm subsided about an hour later.
When he emerged, it was a scene of chaos. There were overturned chairs, branches and rubbish strewn all over.
He said that, thankfully, none of the cars at his dealership was damaged.
But he had to spend about an hour clearing the cars.
DANGLING SIGNBOARDS
"I was afraid the wind would also cause the dangling signboards to fall, as they were swinging so violently," he added.
People were still cleaning up the mess, including trees that had been snapped in half, when The New Paper visited at 4.30pm yesterday.
Thick branches blocked the doors of some cars and were sawn and dragged away to move the cars into sheltered areas.
Security officer Vedhasri, 34, said the management office had received about 10 complaints from shoppers and tenants.
DAMAGE
"They are worried about the damage caused to their cars," she said.
The rain and gusts of wind caught admin assistant Kuei Lee, 23, by surprise.
"It felt like a typhoon. I have never experienced anything like this in Singapore before," she said.
She added: "Luckily, none of my cars was scratched by falling branches. "
Overall PSI readings on Oct 12 at 2pm were in the high end of the moderate range, from 87-101.
Thundery showers over the past two days have lowered the overall PSI readings to 65-78 at the same timing.
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