House byline
Environment correspondent
Benjamin Ong is a house byline for InfoHandle’s Environment desk.
Singapore’s Haze Task Force said N95 masks are ready for vulnerable residents if the 24-hour air index crosses 200, as central readings hit 192 and Formula 1 crowds pack the Marina Bay circuit.
The central region’s 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index hit 177 on Friday morning, the worst reading of the 2026 haze season, as smoke from Sumatra and Kalimantan kept every monitoring zone in the unhealthy band during the Formula 1 race weekend.
The 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index for central Singapore rose to 103 at 3 a.m. Sunday after dipping to the moderate range late Saturday, prompting renewed advice to cut outdoor activity for sensitive groups.
The National Environment Agency's deposit scheme became mandatory on Thursday after a six-month transition, sending supermarkets and coffee shops to strip unmarked bottles even as more than 2,000 merchants won a one-month grace period.
National water agency PUB told drivers to avoid Neo Tiew Road near the harvest link after intense rain submerged the farm belt, while an earlier Woodlands flood had already cleared.
Early Tuesday readings put 24-hour PSI in the unhealthy band across most of Singapore, with central PM2.5 at 133 micrograms per cubic metre as NEA warned haze could persist despite forecast showers.
Central Singapore’s 24-hour PSI hit 108 at 9pm on Saturday, pushing the region back into the unhealthy band as NEA forecast moderate to low-unhealthy air overnight into Sep 27.
National water agency PUB reported flash floods along King’s Road and Coronation Road in Bukit Timah on Tuesday afternoon and issued a rolling list of high-risk junctions from Gul Circle to Punggol as heavy rain swept the island during the second half of September.