Flood water damages goods at Orchard mall ... again
Goods displayed on floor at Orchard Gateway shop gets damaged in fourth incident in 18 months
Collectibles shop Spoilmarket at orchardgateway has had its goods spoilt by water four times over the past 1½ years.
It has become such a regular occurrence that owner Shaymond Tan, 30, was not at all shocked when he was informed yesterday morning that the leather bags and frames displayed on the floor of his shop were soaked by water that had flooded in.
Mr Tan, who has been operating his shop in the Orchard Road mall since May 2014, was fast asleep and missed the call from the mall's management at 7.40am.
He found out about what had happened when he returned the call at 10.30am.
"They told me that the floor at Basement 2 of the mall had flooded and my shop was affected," Mr Tan told The New Paper.
He said that on the three previous occasions, water had seeped through the ceiling and flowed down the side of a pillar in the shop, soaking only the merchandise around the pillar.
"However, this time round, the water flooded the shop and damaged everything on the floor," he said.
"The first flood cost me about $6,000... I dismissed it as bad luck and did not make a claim to the management.
"I made one only after the same thing happened in June last year. But until now, no actions have been taken," Mr Tan alleged.
Mr Chan Kok Hong, managing director of Savills Property Management, which manages orchardgateway, said the management was alerted to the minor flooding that was caused by a leak in the air-conditioner unit in a Basement 2 shop at 5.30am yesterday.
"The test plug, which is a small plug installed to test the unit's water temperature, came loose and fell off, causing the water to flow out. It then streamed out of the shop and flooded the corridor," he said.
RESTORED
Mr Chan said technicians immediately responded by cutting off the water supply to the air-con in the basement.
The water was also cleaned up by 10am and the air-con was restored an hour later.
Addressing Mr Tan's concerns, Mr Chan said: "I understand that the owner of Spoilmarket had complained that his shop had water seepage four times.
"The water seepage involved a staircase wall that is adjacent to his shop and is not related to today's incident. We will be carrying out some repairs to that staircase wall."
Retail assistant Nur Amira, 22, who has been working at Spoilmarket since its opening, said the shop was closed yesterday to facilitate the clean-up.
She said: "When I came to work at about 10.30am, everything on the floor was wet. I couldn't even switch on the lights. I thought to myself, 'Not again'.
"It's so troublesome to clean up the place after a flood. We have to carry everything out to air dry them and the items that are not salvageable had to be thrown out," said Ms Amira.
A retail assistant from neighbouring clothing shop MDS Collections, Ms Lai Li Yuek, 19, had a similar experience.
"As soon as I arrived at the shop at about 8.15am, I had to quickly move everything on the floor to higher ground," she said.
She added: "Our store room was flooded. I was really worried because some of the boxes contain newly-arrived clothes."
Ms Viola Lim, 23, a retail assistant at consignment shop Toy Outpost, said: "Although none of the merchandise was damaged, the shop's display lights experienced a short circuit."
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