Water leaking from the ceiling at the Andersen’s of Denmark Ice Cream outlet in NEX shopping mall on Aug 6, 2022. - ST
SINGAPORE (The Straits Times/Asia News Network): Several shops in the two basements of NEX shopping mall in Serangoon reopened for business on Monday (Aug 8) after suspending operations on Sunday due to water leakage.
When The Straits Times visited NEX on Monday morning, the area in front of the Food Republic foodcourt - which was operational - was cordoned off and water was dripping slowly from the ceiling.
A NEX spokesman said on Sunday that it was alerted to a water backflow incident by a tenant on the first storey at 5.55pm on Saturday.
"A plumbing issue was subsequently identified to originate from the tenant's floor trap where the water backflow had spread to their retail area and first storey " the spokesman added.
The choke was resolved by 11pm, but the remnant water continued to leak from the unit and affected some tenants across the basements, the spokesman said.
"For the safety of our tenants and shoppers, we have informed affected tenants to suspend operations until the issue has been fully rectified."
An employee of Pezzo in Basement 2, who declined to be named, told ST that the outlet had to shutter on Sunday due to water dripping from the ceiling in front of its premises.
"When I arrived at 8.15am, I couldn't enter the shop. The mall's management said it was too dangerous to open," said the worker in her 60s.
"Luckily, nothing in the shop was affected and we are allowed to open today."
An Oriental Herbal Tea manager said the shop also had to close on Sunday but declined to comment further.
Staff at the mall said parts of a false ceiling in the basement collapsed on Sunday morning but were patched back overnight.
Tiger Sugar outlet manager Tay Jia Jun, 33, said the ceiling had already suffered damage when he arrived to open the shop in Basement 1 just before 11am on Sunday.
"It was like it was raining indoors. I thought it was a toilet leak as the water was brown," he added. "You can still see the water damage on the ceiling."
Tay said business fell by about 15 per cent as the escalator from Basement 2 and the entrance to Basement 1 were cordoned off.
In response to queries, the spokesman said the collapsed ceiling was related to the leakage and that the affected location was cordoned off.
"The affected areas have been checked and rectified and are now accessible to shoppers,” she added.
“The choke and leakage have been rectified since earlier (Monday) afternoon. Aesthetic works and the clean-up of remnant dripping water is in progress... We apologise for the inconvenience caused to our tenants and shoppers.”
Nur Syakirah Asarafalr, 20, who works at Andersen's of Denmark Ice Cream in Basement 1, said water started leaking from the shop's ceiling and a vent in front of the outlet at around 7pm on Saturday.
"The lights at our shopfront stopped working and we had to put buckets all around till the leaking stopped at around 11pm," she added, noting that business dropped by about 20 per cent.
"The water was slightly brown. There is still a pungent smell in the air but our equipment and ice cream were not affected."
Peter Margaret, 60, a sales staff at the atrium on the first storey, said water flowed out of the H&M outlet at around 6pm on Saturday.
She added: "The outlet was closed and I saw that the water was about three inches high inside. The nearby toilet also flooded and was closed."
In 2020, two people were injured after a ventilation duct fell from the ceiling at Shaw Theatres in NEX.
Investigations showed that the duct collapsed due to water accumulating in the insulation material surrounding the duct, overloading the brackets supporting it.
The cineplex reopened in March 2021 after it completed rectification works.
