Flooding in North Luzon is 'turning from bad to worse'

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan - Up to 30 of Pangasinan province’s 48 towns and cities are now flooded and 30,000 people have been evacuated due to continuous rains and near-overflowing dams brought by Typhoon “Pepeng," Governor Amado Espino said early Friday morning.

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said floods were also reported in Dingras, Nueva Era and Paoay towns in Ilocos Norte; Bangar and Luna in La Union; and at least 10 cities and towns in Nueva Ecija.

Among those areas in Pangasinan so far affected by floods are Asingan, Balungao, Basista, Bautista, Bayambang, Binalonan, Sta. Barbara, Dagupan City, Mangaldan, Natividad, Rosales, San Fabian, San Jacinto, San Manuel, San Quintin, Sta. Maria, Manaoag, Mapandan, Pozorrubio, Sison, Tayug, Umingan, and Villasis.

In an interview over radio dzBB, Gov. Espino said rescue operations have already been launched in some of these areas.

Aside from the nonstop downpour, floods in the province have been aggravated by the opening of six San Roque Dam floodgates to release water and thus prevent the reservoir water from breaching its walls and threatening a catastrophic collapse.

As of 2 a.m. Friday, PAGASA's Dam Status webpage announced that all of San Roque dam's six gates were open at a combined 27 meters height and pouring water into downstream Agno river at the rate of 5,353 cubic meters per second.

Earlier Thursday night, Pangasinan public information officer Butch Velasco told radio dzBB in an interview that San Roque Dam was releasing an “unprecedented" amount of water of 6,000 cubic meters per second from 3000 cubic meters per second at 7 p.m.

‘It’s really unprecedented this kind of volume of water. Ngayon lang nangyayari sa history ng Pangasinan (It's happening only now, in Pangasinan's history)," he said.

A still earlier report from the Pangasinan governor's office put the San Roque water-release figure at 3,150 cubic meters of water per second.

Other dams that have been releasing water in the last few days include Angat, Pantabangan, Ambuklao, Magat, and Binga dams.

Navy spokesman Lt. Col. Edgard Arevalo said in a radio interview with dzBB that he was informed by Commodore Jose Luis Alano, head of the Naval Forces in Northern Luzon, that the flood situation in northern Luzon has begun “turning from bad to worsse."