ELI5: How does Singapore deal with flooding?

Singapore deals with flooding by having a super good system to quickly drain away rainwater.

Imagine Singapore is like a giant, slightly tilted plate. When it rains a lot, the water naturally flows down. But instead of overflowing the plate, Singapore has built special channels (like tiny rivers), big drains (like bigger rivers), and reservoirs (like huge lakes) to catch all the water.

Think of it like this:

• When you spill juice on the table, you quickly grab a cloth to soak it up, right? Singapore's drains and canals are like that cloth, soaking up the rainwater.
• But what if you spilled a lot of juice? You'd need a bucket, right? That's what the reservoirs are for. They store the extra rainwater so it doesn't flood the streets.
• The channels are like the slopes on the table, guiding the juice towards the cloth and bucket.

And to make sure everything works well, people are always checking the drains and canals to clean out any leaves or trash that might block the water flow. It's like making sure your bathtub drain isn't clogged so the water can go down properly. This helps keep our streets and homes dry, even when it rains a lot!