On Location: Newton Circus

The year was 1969. It was way before the flood alleviation works had kicked in, and this was the mayhem that was expected at the height of the monsoon season. The locals are familiar with the Newton Circus, but what's in addition to that was that this scene was repeated time and again from Newton Circus right up to the University of Singapore (which eventually became the present day National University of Singapore, or NUS). So you call in the cavalry when this happens.

That was the conscript army in the early days donning the characteristic steel helmet, making their way round the flooded areas in their steel boats relieving those stranded in the low lying areas along the Bukit Timah Road. (This was perhaps their first real search-and-rescue operational experience in such emergencies before they were to respond to what was to be known as the Asian Tsunami 35 years later in another country).
That bus marooned in the background was the predecessor to our present Singapore Bus Service red and white buses. Back then, they went by names such as Green Bus, Singapore Traction Company, Hock Lee and Tay Koh Yat. These days, we have it all grouped under the SBS and SMRT. You go around transiting from bus to bus in a proximity card that you tap as you alight and get off a bus, or when you decide to hop on to the local trains the MRT (think Underground Tube, Metro, U or S-Bahn etc.).