Water rains down on escalator & stairs at Chinatown MRT station exit, pools on floor

Water falls at Chinatown MRT station exit, drenches passengers

Passengers entering and exiting Chinatown MRT station faced a curtain of water.

Netizen ‘@yydscocoliu’ captured the incident on two videos and uploaded them to TikTok on 29 Dec.

The first video showed Exit E of the station, leading to Chinatown Point.

Water rained down onto two escalators and the staircase in between them, with the upward escalator no longer operating.

The water then pooled in the tunnel leading to the exit, with a wet floor sign helpfully indicating the situation.

A man in white walked down the escalator, completely drenched but looking unperturbed.

Behind him, a woman covered her head with a towel to protect herself.

The second video took place further back from the exit, showing the extent of the shallow flooding.

“There’s a leak in the MRT station at Chinatown Point,” the OP said.

Passengers carefully stepped through the large pool of water towards the exit.

Netizens blame flooding on heavy rain

One user in the comments attributed the cause of the flooding to the heavy rainfall on 29 Dec.

“Today’s rain was heavier than usual,” they wrote.

The rain resulted in several cases of flooding in Singapore, especially in the Bukit Timah area.

Another netizen joked that Changi Jewel’s iconic waterfall had moved to an MRT station.

On a more serious note, a commenter expressed concern over elderly passengers potentially slipping and falling when passing through the area.

Chinatown MRT Exit E temporarily closed

Speaking to MS News, SBS Transit spokesperson, Mrs Grace Wu, said that the incident took place at around 5pm on Sunday (29 Dec).

According to Mrs Wu, a choked roof gutter had caused rainwater to overflow into Exit E of the Chinatown MRT Station.

“This was not caused by flooding, as our MRT stations are designed with flood protection measures to prevent surface water from flowing into the stations during heavy rain,” she added.

For safety reasons, the Chinatown MRT Exit E was temporarily closed and the area was barricaded while staff directed passengers to Exit G, an alternative exit to get to the street level through Chinatown Point.

Passengers were also informed of the exit closure through a public announcement at the MRT station as well as on social media.

By Monday (30 Dec), Exit E was open as usual when the station commenced passenger service.

“This was after safety checks on the systems and equipment were conducted,” Mrs Wu added. “We apologise to affected passengers for the inconvenience caused.”

Also read: Taiwanese singer Vivian Hsu caught in Bukit Timah flood, says car was stuck on the road

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Featured image adapted from @yydscocoliu on TikTok and TikTok.