BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya, Philippines – The Magat Dam continued to release water yesterday as the water elevation in its reservoir along the Ifugao-Isabela border remained in critical level amid the continuous rains.
As of 3 p.m. yesterday, Magat Dam engineer Saturnino Tenedor of the National Irrigation Administration, said the water level was at 192.95 meters, prompting authorities to continue releasing water to avoid reaching the 193-meter spilling level.
This, as rivers in Cagayan Valley continued to swell due to rains pouring over the region since early this week, rendering some overflow bridges impassable.
Impassable were the Alicaocao Bridge in Cauayan City as well as bridges linking Isabela’s Cabagan town to Santo Tomas and Santa Maria towns.
Residents, who are still reeling from the recent onslaught of typhoons, fear that flooding might worsen due to the continued release of water from Magat Dam and the overflowing of the Cagayan and Pinacanauan rivers.
However, dam authorities said the dam was not fully to blame for the flooding in downstream areas of Cagayan Valley, saying they have warned residents of their water releases.
Besides, Tenedor said they have been releasing water in controlled or gradual volumes to avoid flooding in the dam’s downstream areas.
Besides being a major source of irrigation for at least 70,000 hectares of farmlands, the nearly four-decade-old Magat Dam, once Asia’s biggest hydroelectric and irrigation facility, also contributes 380 megawatts to the Luzon power grid.