Pangasinan residents alerted over San Roque dam's spillage

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 10/15/2009 9:58 AM

The provincial government of Pangasinan advised municipal and city officials in areas near Agno River to watch out for possible floods due to the San Roque Dam's plan to increase water spillage by noon Thursday.

An ABS-CBN Dagupan report said provincial Governor Amado Espino sent text messages advising local officials of the San Roque Dam's scheduled release of 600 cubic meters per second (cms) starting noon.

Areas expected to feel the effects of the water spillage were San Manuel, San Nicolas, Tayug, Santa Maria, Asingan, Villasis, Alcala, Bautista, Rosales and Bayambang.

Espino also advised people living near rivers and creeks with damaged dikes to take extra precautionary measures. He said local officials were also asked to conduct preemptive evacuations.

As of 9 p.m. Wednesday, the dam was releasing 439.9 cms.

The provincial government has blamed the San Roque dam management on the floodwaters that swamped 38 towns and cities in Pangasinan during the onslaught of tropical storm Pepeng.

Espino said the excessive release of water from the dam destroyed dikes, which caused flashfloods in several towns.

Maximo Peralta, weather bureau PAGASA's weather forecaster, said Angat Dam released 100 cms of water at 6 a.m. while the Pantabangan dam spilled 200 cms of water at 7 a.m.

He said areas to be affected by the water spillage from Angat Dam were the town of Bulacan, including Norzagaray, Angat, San Rafael, Bustos, Baliwag, Pulilan, Plaridel and Hagonoy, which was still submerged in floodwaters.

Areas to be affected by the spillage from Pantabangan were the towns of Rizal, Bongabon, General Natividad, Palayan, Cabanatuan and Santa Rosa in Bulacan province.

Peralta said the decision to release water from Angat and Pantabangan dam were due to heavy rains over the northern provinces due to a low pressure area near Palawan province. With a report from Cris Zuniga, ABS-CBN Dagupan

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