The early hours at the PDCC
LINGAYEN–The provincial government saw the writing on the wall – a destructive flood that would inundate a large section of eastern Pangasinan – when it received the alert from the San Roque that it would initially release water 13 meters high in its dam on Thursday, October 8 mid afternoon.
The scheduled amount of water to be released was 2,700 cubic meters per second, sum equivalent of the water flowing into the San Roque dam from Upper stream of the Agno River, where the Ambuklao and Binga Dams are located.
To Governor Amado Espino Jr. and other officials of Pangasinan, it meant imminent disaster for the province and there was little time to prepare for the worst.
On learning about the inevitable, he called on the Philippine Navy at Poro Point in San Fernando City, La Union Wednesday, to prepare for rescue operations.
But even before rescue plans could be launched, reports of some people in Natividad town moving to their rooftops for safety when the Dipalo-Viray River swelled reached the Provincial Disaster Coordinating Council. The river is not among those linked to the Agno River.
It was then when the provincial government knew that the worst was yet to happen since there was no sign of Typhoon Pepeng leaving the country anytime soon. The continuous rain had earlier prompted the governor to alert municipal and city mayors to undertake pre-emptive evacuation of all residents near Agno River and low-lying areas.
In the aftermath, Espino hailed the pre-emptive evacuation implemented by the municipal and city disaster-coordinating councils that minimized damages to lives and properties.
The Police Regional Mobile Group led by Chief Superintendent Alejandro Valerio responded to the distress call and a contingent was promptly dispatched from La Union on Thursday to assist in rescue operations.
While Alex Palada, chief of the Agno Flood Forecasting and Warning System on Dam Operation (AFFWSDO), downplayed a possible scenario that extensive damage could be caused by rivers not linked to the Agno River, including Pantal in Dagupan City, as a result of the dam releases, PDCC received reports that most of the rivers in Pangasinan, including those not attached to the Agno River, had began swelling due to the non-stop heavy rains.
“The rivers were already overflowing even when the water released from the dam had not reached Pangasinan,” Espino lamented.
Espino said he conducted an ocular inspection in Eastern Pangasinan on Wednesday and little did he know that the same roads he traversed would be impassable in less than 24 hours.
Among the first to be closed to vehicular traffic were roads leading to Pozorrubio and San Jacinto. The flooding in both towns was caused by the swelling of the Bued River and the Aloragat River, not by Agno River.
He told newsmen that as of 2:00 p.m. Thursday, the PDCC received calls for help from Pozorrubio, Mangaldan, Balungao, San Nicolas, Natividad and Umingan. Most had requested for rubber boats.
The province could not comply since it only owned two rubber boats. The other only two boats in the province are owned by the Dagupan City government.
Espino said the problem for the province was compounded when the officials of SRMP could not categorically confirm when the opened spillway gates of the dam would be closed owing to continued heavy rains being dumped by Typhoon Pepeng.
“Imagine six gates (of SRMP) opened at a time when most of our rivers were already swelling,” Espino said.
He also ordered the close monitoring of the Gualsic Dike in Alcala because he feared that its eventual breach would worsen the flooding in Malasiqui, Sta. Barbara, Calasiao and Dagupan City. And his fears were founded; all four communities were among the worst hit.–LM
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