STOMPer sonu's father and other vendors of the Deepavali bazaar in Little India saw losses of about $80,000 per stall when last night's storm hit.

sonu described the incident (Sep 28):

"Deepavali bazaar tragedy.

"The whole tent collapsed due to the heavy rain and heavy wind.

"Each shop is claiming damages from $60k to $90k...

"This happened at the bazaar in front of Mustafa Centre, in Little India.

"Around 11.30pm or 12 midnight, a storm hit, and the strong winds first lifted the tent up.

"When the winds let up, the tent came crashing back down, and the scaffolding was not strong enough to support its weight and hence collapsed.

"It was also raining heavily at this time, so the rain soaked through the tent, damaging the goods that my father and fellow vendors had already put out on display.

"The police came, and made sure everyone left the area, for our own safety. Everyone escaped, and no one was injured.

"However, we were unable to retrieve our goods for the next two hours, and a lot of the items which were not in plastic bags, were soaked through and destroyed.

"When the police finally let us back to the tent, it was almost 3am.

"My dad was selling Punjabi suits, and our estimated losses came up to $80k. The carpet seller was at a loss, for each carpet cost $3k to $4k, and they were all soaked through.

"About 150 vendors were there in total, and about 60 to 70 per cent had set up stalls. The food and jewellery vendors were still constructing their stalls.

"It will take about one week to restore the bazaar, and each stall's rental costs from $4k to $10k for the month.

"We are trying to contact the organiser for compensation, but he is not saying anything.

"Finally around 4am, my family and I got home, taking the things we could salvage back with us. We had to leave half the stuff there, which was not protected by plastic bags."