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MANILA - The National Power Corp. on Friday said water releases from the San Roque Dam at the height of tropical storm Gener and the monsoon rains were not responsible for the flooding in certain municipalities in Pangasinan.
“On the contrary, the dam mitigated the flood situation in Pangasinan,” said Romualdo Ma. T. Beltran, manager of Napocor's dams, reservoirs and flood forecasting department.
“The floods would have been significantly worse were it not for the flood control functions of the San Roque Dam,” he said.
Napocor data showed that at the height of the heavy downpour, the reservoir of the San Roque Dam stored close to 500 million cubic meters of water, thus preventing the flooding in the areas downstream from getting worse.
Beltran said Napocor strictly complied with existing dam water release protocols when it started spilling water on August 2, after the water elevation in the dam reached the 278 meters above sea level mark.
Under the existing protocol, water should be released from the dam before it breaches 280 masl.
Napocor issued the clarification to assure the public that it is the company’s policy and priority to be sensitive to the safety and well-being of the communities that live near the dams that it operates and maintains.
“During typhoons, our employees carefully monitor the water elevations of the dams 24/7 precisely because we are concerned about the safety of the residents that live downstream,” Beltran said.
“We also work closely with other government agencies like the NDRRMC/PDRRMC and PAGASA to ensure that no lives or properties are placed in danger whenever we have to release water from the dams,” he said.
As of 8:00 a.m. today, the water level of San Roque stood at 280.35 masl. Only one gate remained open at 0.5 meters.
Napocor expects the water level to go down to the 280-masl mark within the day, after which it will close the said gate.
Two other dams that Napocor operates – Ambuklao and Binga – also had one gate each opened as of today, at 0.3 meters, while the Angat and Caliraya dams were closed throughout the passage of Gener and the August 7 monsoon rains.
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