Flood hits 200 barangays in 18 Pangasinan towns

LINGAYEN -- Some 200 barangays in 18 towns of Pangasinan, mostly along the Agno River, were flooded as a result of the continuing release of water from the San Roque Dam.

As of 5 a.m. Thursday, the level of water at the San Roque Dam Reservoir is 281.92 meters above sea level (masl), breaching its normal spilling level of 280 masl.

With its two gates opened by 2.5 meters, its total outflow is 499 cubic meters per seconds (cms). This includes the 114 cms it normally throws out from its turbines when the plant is generating 114 megawatts for the Luzon Grid.

On the other hand, the inflow of water to San Roque's reservoir from the higher Binga Dam in Itogon, Benguet is 430 cms.

Hilario Esperanza, chief of the Agno River Flood Forecasting System, maintained that the 2.5-meter opening of the dam caused only minimal rise of water of Agno River.

However, downstream, Agno River is joined by the water of the Ambayoan River in San Nicolas, the Viray-Dipalo River in San Quintin and Umingan, the Camiling River (Tarlac) through Bayambang and the San Clemente River (Tarlac) through Mangatarem. All these water waterways end up in the Lingayen Gulf through Bugallon and Lingayen.

Residents were evacuated as flooding occurred in 89 barangays of Mangatarem and in barangays of Lingayen, Bugallon, Aguilar, Urbiztondo, Bayambang, Rosales.

At the same time, heavy equipment have been rushed to Asingan to repair and strengthen the west bank of the Agno River threatened with erosion.

The banks of the Agno River in Villasis, Tayug, Sta. Maria, Sto. Tomas and Bautista as well as San Carlos City has been placed on closed watch 24/7 as San Roque Dam has not stopped releasing water downstream.

Meanwhile, the flash floods that occurred in barangays of Bugallon were caused by rushing water from the mountains caused by deforestation.

Swelling waters of Sinocalan River, meanwhile, caused the floods in Sta. Barbara and Calasiao. The river, with fountain head from Mt. Ampucao in Tuba,Benguet, flows to the Toboy River in San Manuel, Tagamusing River in Binalonan, San Jose River in Urdaneta, Sinolanan River in Sta. Barbara, Caslao and finally to Pantal River in Dagupan City.

Meanwhile, Gov. Amado Espno Jr. has ordered technical people of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) to give him a clearer picture of the situation so that he can recommend to the Sangguniang Panlalawigan (SP) to declare a state of Calamity for the province.

As of 12:00 noon, members of the SP were meeting at the provincial capitol and waiting for the report of the PDRRMC. (PNA)