Dams release water, may flood 18 Pangasinan areas
dams in Luzon resorted to releasing water over the weekend as heavy monsoon rains contributed to the significant increase in the water levels in the reservoirs, threatening 18 areas in Pangasinan with greater flooding.
Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Ad- ministration (PAGASA) hydrologist Richard Orendain said that as of Sunday, Ambuklao and Binga dams in Benguet were releasing excess water, opening eight and six flood gates respectively.
The water discharge from Ambuklao and Binga dams flow into San Roque Dam in San Manuel, Pangasinan, which also opened three of its gates on Sunday.
Orendain said water released from San Roque Dam flows into the Agno River and advised residents living near the river to be on alert for possible flooding.
The National Power Corporation (Napocor) said the San Roque Dam released water from its reservoir beginning 2 a.m. Sunday.
Orendain said that San Roque Dam will continue to release water as long as there is rain over the watershed.
Office of Civil Defense Region 1 (OCD1) Melchito Castro warned that at least at least 17 municipalities and one city will likely be affected. These are the towns of San Manuel, San Nicolas, Tayug, Asingan, Sta. Maria, Rosales, Villasis, Sto. Tomas, Alcala, Bautista, Bayambang, Mangatarem, Urbiztondo, Aguilar, Bugallon, Lingayen, Labrador, and part of San Carlos City.
CAR suspends hiking PAGASA’s Baguio Synoptic Station recorded 249.2 mm of rainfall in Baguio City from 8 a.m. Saturday to 8 a.m. Sunday, reason why the Ambuklao Dam had to release water before reaching its the critical reservoir water level of 752.00.
Due to the heavy rains, hiking, trekking, and all other tourism activities in the following areas are temporarily suspended on Mt. Pulag, Kabayan, Benguet; Mt. Purgatory, Bokod, Benguet; Mt. Pigingan, Barangay Dalupirip, Itogon, Benguet; Mt. Ulap, Barangay Ampucao, Itogon, Benguet. Spelunking activities were also stopped in Sagada, Mountain Province.
Meanwhile, Magat Dam in Isabela has also been releasing water, with one of its gates opened for the past four days. However, there is no imminent threat of flooding in nearby areas, according to authorities.
Dams in Bulacan
Dams in Bulacan also reached their spilling level as the water level of Ipo Dam reached 101.13 meters (spilling level 101 meters), while the water level at Bustos Dam hit 17.52 meters (spilling level 17.50 meters).
As of 10:20 in the morning yesterday, some villages in towns of Bulakan and Hagonoy were again submerged with waters from rivers due to a high tide measuring 1.42 meters in height (4.66 feet).
Bulacan PDRRM Executive Officer Liz Mungcal said Ipo Dam opened its radial gate 1 and discharged a total of 61.90 cubic meters per second (cms), while the Bustos Dam opened 1 and 2 sluice gates and discharged a total of 232 cms of water from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Early yesterday, the radial gate of Bustos Dam was full opened and released a total of 543 cms of water.
Heavy and intense rains inundated 31 villages in Bulacan, prompted Governor Wilhelmino M. Sy- Alvarado to place rescue teams on alert as he led the monitoring of the flooded areas particularly in Calumpit, Marilao and in the City of Meycauayan.
Mungcal said they have dispatched an Army Truck in Marilao town particularly in Barangay Ibayo that was submerged under 1 to 8 feet of flood water.
Bridge collapses
Meanwhile, an abandoned bridge in Barangay Esperanza Ilaya, Alfonso, Cavite collapsed on Saturday, following heavy rains from the habagat.
Sr. Supt. William M. Segun, Cavite Police Provincial Office director, said that no casualty was reported when the 25year-old Rodeo Hills Mangas II-Esperanza Bridge collapsed.
CALABARZON
In Calabarzon Region (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon), Superintendent Chitadel Gaoiran, spokesman of the Police Regional Office (PRO4-A), said a total of 19,634 individuals were evacuated in Rizal and Cavite provinces as of 10 a.m. Sunday.
Most affected were the residents in Rodriguez, Rizal where 10,065 individuals were evacuated while 9,031 persons residents were told to leave their houses in San Mateo due to deep floods. The evacuees were housed in a total of 624 temporary shelters all throughout the region. (With reports from Freddie C. Velez, Anthony Giron, Martin A. Sadongdong, and Nel B. Andrade)