Flood Area POI or avoidance

[tks]

Until recent times, floods have been relatively unheard of in modern Singapore. But now, from a once in 50 years flood, we have already been hit by 4 of them, with 3 of them in the last 2 months. Places affected include upmarket Bukit Timah area and (gasp) prime shopping area Orchard Road. I understand that Malaysian newspapers had a field day!

Now, my friend yesterday asked me if I could download a Singapore map for him which will allow him to avoid flooded roads. That set me thinking.

Is it possible to do this? Flood Area avoidance? I checked my Garmin Mobile XT and the closest I got was "pool' in "Carpool Lane". Anyway, I doubt it is practical to do this coz you end up avoiding many major roads.

Best alternative I think is to have a "Flood Prone Area POI". Something like ERP or SpeedCam POI where you are warned just before you reach the area. This is doable. I did a quick search and realise someone had in fact tried to do this for some part of Malaysia few years back.

Finally, I wonder if the Traffic Information for the new Nuvis for Singapore includes Flood Info. This will be the best solution coz it is real time. I think it is not too difficult to implement. LTA just has to work with NEA or whoever is monitoring floods in Singapore.

Any comments?