'Angat Dam water didn't cause flashfloods'

MALOLOS CITY , Philippines  – An official of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) clarified yesterday that the water released from Angat Dam did not cause flashfloods in four towns in Bulacan.

“The water that caused flashfloods in Bocaue, Marilao, Sta. Maria and Meycauayan City did not come from us,” said Engineer Rodolfo German, general manager of the Angat Hydro Electric Power Plant (AHEPP) of the Napocor that manages Angat Dam in Hilltop, Norzagaray, Bulacan.

German said television and radio reports were mistaken in pinpointing Angat Dam as the cause of flashfloods triggered by tropical storm “Ondoy” that killed several residents last Saturday.

He said Angat Dam gradually released water last Saturday afternoon through its spillway as water elevation breached the spilling level of the dam.

German assured the people that AHEPP officers informed the officials of Bulacan led by Gov. Joselito Mendoza several hours before the release of water from the dam.

Mendoza had claimed that the flashflood in Bocaue and Marilao was due to the water released by the dam.

He stressed that water gradually released from Angat Dam would only affect towns that lie along the 50-kilometer Angat River that includes Norzagaray, Angat, San Rafael, Bustos, Baliuag, Plaridel, Pulilan, Calumpit, Paombong and Hagonoy.

German said that rivers in Sta. Maria, Bocaue, Marilao, and Meycauayan City are not connected to the Angat River and the Angat Dam.

Raul Agustin, the special operations officer of the Provincial Disaster Management Office (PDMO), said the Bulacan towns of Bocaue and Marilao lay downstream from San Jose del Monte in Bulacan, Caloocan and Quezon cities in Metro Manila.

He said heavy rains caused the flashfloods in Bocaue and Marilao.

PDMO recorded at least 1,432 millimeters of rainfall on their rain gauge station located at Barangay Kaybanban in San Jose del Monte City from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. last Saturday.

“Rain was so strong at San Jose del Monte that day and caused the river to overflow and go downstream to Bocaue and Marilao and caused the flashflood,” Agustin said.

Meanwhile, the Magat Irrigation and Hydroelectric Power Project (Magat Dam) has continued releasing excess water that had accumulated after almost a week of rains to avoid reaching critical level.

National Irrigation Administration (NIA) officials said they had started to release water from the dam since Sunday or during the tail-end of storm Ondoy when the dam reached the 191-meter water level, or two meters below critical level.

Pelagio Gammad, manager of NIA’s Magat plant, said they released around 848 cubic meters per second from two of the dam’s six exit valves as of yesterday, which was down from the 852 cubic meter per second rate of release on previous days.

“We didn’t wait anymore for the dam to reach critical level. Once there are heavy rains or typhoons, we immediately release excess water. In this way, we would prevent possible destruction to the dam,” said Gammad.

Magat dam is located along the boundary of Ramon, Isabela and Alfonso Lista, Ifugao. It is a major source of irrigation for some 80,000 hectares of rice and cornfields in Isabela, Cagayan and Quirino.

The management of its hydroelectric power component, which provides at least 350 megawatts of power to the Luzon grid, had been sold to the Filipino-Norwegian consortium SN Aboitiz Power for P530 million in 2006.

Nearby residents blamed the flooding on the sudden release of water from the dam, which flows to the Pinacanauan River leading to the Cagayan River and exits at the river delta in Aparri town into the South China Sea.

Most affected by floods every time typhoons or tropical storms visit Cagayan Valley are the northern and southwestern Isabela towns and those in the southern and northern Cagayan areas, where the bulk of the country’s rice and corn produce come from.

“The effect of the release of water from the dam is only very minimal since we release the water in calibrated amounts which do not lead to flooding,” said NIA engineer Saturnino Tenedor.

Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena and the Regional Development Council came out with a comprehensive flood control master plan for the Cagayan Valley region with a budget of P128 billion, after the worst flooding that hit the area in 2006.                    – With Charlie Lagasca