NPC: San Roque Dam did not cause of 2009 flooding
DON’T blame it on the water releases from the San Roque Multipurpose Dam.
This was the assertion made by an official of the National Power Corporation (NPC) who joined the company after the flooding that inundated most parts of Pangasinan in October 2009
Engr. Virgilio Garcia, chief of the Agno Flood Forecasting and Warning Office of the NPC, reiterated the earlier repeated claims by NPC officials that they had nothing to do with the disastrous flood that submerged many neighboring towns at the height of Typhoon “Pepeng” last year.
Garcia, speaking during a one-day seminar on typhoon forecasting in Dagupan last week, said Dagupan and central Pangasinan are too far away from the Agno River where San Roque drains its excess water.
He stopped short of implying that the series of civil cases for damages filed jointly and separately by flood victims in Dagupan City and Pangasinan will not hold water.
Co-respondents of NPC in these civil suits are the San Roque Power Corporation (SRPC), operator of the San Roque Multi-purpose Dam Project, and their respective officials.
The complaints attributed the flooding mainly to the sudden release of a huge volume of water from the dam at the height of Typhoon “Pepeng” that washed out flood control dikes along the Agno River, spilling into large areas of Pangasinan.
Nonetheless, Garcia assured that the release of a huge volume of water from the dam downstream will not be repeated
He attributed the flooding instead to the overflow from the other river systems.
Showing a map of Pangasinan, the NPC official pointed at Mt. Ampucao in Tuba, Benguet, which is not connected to the Agno River, as the source of water flooding in Dagupan, Mangaldan, Mapandan, Sta. Barbara Calasiao and Urdaneta.
Mt. Ampucao is the fountainhead of the Tagamusing, San Jose and Sinocalan rivers whose water flows down to Sta. Barbara, then to Calasiao and Dagupan before exiting to the Lingayen Gulf.
Garcia said the protocol for releasing water from San Roque which was in effect at the time states that water can be gradually released from San Roque when the reservoir elevation reaches 280 meters above sea level if the typhoon marking reaches Area 1 and with a rainfall of 60 mm. in one day. At the same time the inflow of water into the dam from upstream must be 500 cubic meters per second.
It was the first time the protocol was made public. –LM
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