Occasionally, some parts of Singapore are inundated by floods, usually in the form of flash floods that came about due to intense rainfall over a short period of time. Floods in Singapore are much less severe than floods in other countries, often only lasting a few hours before dissipating on its own. 2006 Tuesday, 19 December 2006 Continuous heavy rain since Monday, 18 December drenched Singapore, resulting in the third highest rainfall of 366mm recorded on Tuesday. The heaviest rain Singapore recorded was 512.4mm on 2 December 1978, followed by 469mm in December 1969. Severe floods affected areas such as Thomson, Mandai and Olive Road, severely affecting the business in Goodwood Florist as it is a low lying area. By 11pm, floodwaters have subsided in all flooded areas of Singapore except Olive Road. 2010 Wednesday, 16 June 2010 Heavy rains caused flooding in Singapore's central shopping district and snarled traffic throughout the island. Shopping Malls along Orchard Road like Lucky Plaza and Liat Towers were affected by the flood. The flood had caused some shopping mall and car park basements to be submerged in the water. Rescuers had to pull out about 70 passengers from cars and buses, as flooding shut down Orchard Road, which is lined with high-end shopping malls and tourist attractions. No one was injured. According to the Public Utilities Board (PUB), about 4 inches (100 millimetres) of rain fell in two hours Wednesday morning, equivalent to around 60 percent of the average monthly rainfall for June. Water rose above the tyres of stalled cars on Orchard. On 18 June, the PUB, in a press conference, revealed its findings that the drainage system under Orchard Road, the Stamford Canal, was choked. The culvert, which was to drain water into two parallel channels, had one of the channels choked with debris, and water flowed through only one channel. When a second rainstorm on the same morning came, the canal, unable to drain off excess water, overflowed and gushed water up to the surface and caused the flooding. To prevent future floods, PUB spent $25,000 to install five debris-trapping grates at Stamford Canal. These zig-zag grates are meant to catch debris without stopping the flow of water, thus preventing the canal from being choked again. The new grates are installed at Camp Road, Napier Road near Minden Road, Nassim Road, Grange Road and Tanglin Road. Friday, 25 June 2010