Almost every longtime resident in Bukit Timah will recall the floods that constantly plagued the area, sometimes almost fondly as schools were closed due to the floods. A news report in 1963 observed enterprising members of public offering assistance in pushing cars stalled in floods by charging as much as $10 per car for services rendered! Other residents recall standing on tables in schools along Bukit Timah during floods while waiting for evacuation helpers to arrive.
In 1967, the government launched the Bukit Timah Flood Alleviation Scheme to relieve flooding in the Bukit Timah area by diverting floodwater into Sungei Ulu Pandan. Over the years, a comprehensive drainage network was put in place by the Public Utilities Board (PUB), which succeeded in bringing down the flood-prone areas by 95% from 3,200 hectares in the 1970s to 147 hectares as of 2005. The entire project took $1.5 billion over the past 20 years to improve drains all over Singapore. Since its completion in the 1990s, flooding has not occurred in the Bukit Timah Road area.