Despite N. Luzon floods, 5 dams to continue water release

Despite the widespread flooding in northern Luzon, five dams in the area will continue to release water until further notice, the National Power Corporation (Napocor) and National Irrigation Administration (NIA) said Friday. Alex Palada, division manager of Napocor’s Flood Forecasting and Warning System for Dam Operation, said that the Ambuklao and Binga Dams in Benguet and San Roque Dam in Pangasinan continue to release water because they do not have anymore space to store it. “Hanggang maubos yan tsaka iko-close, kaya lang mukhang hindi agad na mauubos yan (We will only close the dam’s gates when all of the excess water have been released, but it doesn’t look like it would be anytime soon)," Palada told GMANews.TV in an interview. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said that as of Friday 10 a.m., the six gates of the Ambuklao and Binga dams continued to spill 1,207 and 1,743 cubic meters per second (cms) respectively. Both the dams’ reservoir water levels (RWL) are still below their normal or spilling elevation. The RWL of the San Roque Dam, however, is now at 280 meters – 9.05 meters above its normal or spilling elevation. Its six gates also continue to spill 2,438 cms. Pagasa said the towns in Pangasinan likely affected by this continued spillage include San Manuel, San Nicolas, Tayug, Sta. Maria, Asingan, Villasis, Alcala, Bautista, Rosales, and Bayambang. Antonio Nangel of NIA’s Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Systems likewise said that the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija will not close its spillways until its water level has normalized. “Ngayon pa lang kasi dumarating yung runoff galing sa (The runoff has just started to fall from the) watershed, so we will wait until the water level is normal," Nangel told GMANews.TV in a separate interview. Nangel said they still have to attain the “comfortable" level of 218 meters RWL before they can stop the spillage. Pagasa said the current RWL of the Pantabangan Dam is at 220.64 meters, with its one gate spilling almost 700 cms. Earlier, Pagasa said areas in the province of Nueva Ecija likely to be affected by Pantabangan Dam’s release of water include Rizal, Bongabon, Gen. Natividad, Palayan City, Cabanatuan City, and Sta. Rosa. In Isabela, release of water from Magat Dam also continued but it is scheduled to end Saturday morning, said Mariano Dancel, acting head of NIA’s Magat River Integration River Systems. “The outflow is already in control, we will close the gates on Saturday morning," the NIA official told GMANews.TV in another interview. Dancel said the two gates of Magat Dam are currently spilling 939 cms as its water level is at 193.06 meters – 0.06 above the normal elevation. Areas supposedly affected by the activities of Magat Dam include the towns of Ramon, San Mateo, Aurora, Cabatuan, Luna, Reina Mercedes, Burgos, Naguilian, and Gamu in the province of Isabela. The dams under Napocor (Angat, San Roque, Caliraya, Binga and Ambuklao) were built to generate power. The dams under NIA (Magat and Pantabangan), on the other hand, were built primarily for irrigation. The opening of the dams’ floodgates is said to have aggravated the floods in northern Luzon which were caused by rainfall brought by tropical depression “Pepeng." Pepeng made three landfalls in northern Luzon since last weekend. But Pagasa said the weather disturbance was moving westward and may leave as early as Saturday night. Still under Storm Signal No. 1 are Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Abra, La Union, and western Pangasinan. - GMANews.TV