DAGUPAN CITY -- The San Roque Dam, the second largest rock-fill dam in Asia, is no longer a threat to the people downstream of the Agno River in Pangasinan as of Friday, October 21.
Although it is still spilling water downstream, it has so far has scaled down the number of gates that it had opened from five by three meters at 4 p.m. Thursday (October 20) to just one gate by two meters at 6 a.m. Friday.
This means that the threat of flood along the downstream municipalities of Pangasinan has been eased completely and no longer necessitated the forced evacuation of residents living near the Agno River in 18 towns and one city of Pangasinan as ordered at 3 p.m. Thursday by Governor Amad Espino III.
With just one gate opened by two meters, the elevation of water at the reservoir of San Roque Dam measured at 6 a.m. Friday is at 285.01 meters above sea level (masl) or up by 5.01 meters the dam's high water or spilling level of 280 masl.
Its total outflow of water downstream is 970 cubic meters per second against more than 1,000 cubic meters per second when four of its gates were opened by three meters.
The total inflow of water to San Roque Dam was reduced to 337 cubic meters per second owing to the fact that Ambukao Dam in Bokod, Benguet, has already lowered its gate opening from eight to just two by only one meter, and Binga Dam down below reduced the number of gates that it has opened from six to three by just 1.5 meter.
This could mean that there is no more rain in the upper Agno River watershed whose fountain head is located at Mt. Data plateau in Mountain Province.
With this development, residents of downstream portions of the Agno River heaved a sigh of relief, as the deluge that happened in 2010 at the height of Typhoon Pepeng when SM City Rosales in Carmen, Rosales, Pangasinan, was almost obliterated by rampaging floodwaters from a washed-out dike in Barangay Tumana, Rosales, will no longer happen.
However, the San Roque Watch, a movement initiated in Pangasinan at the height of Typhoons Karen (Sarika) and Lawin (Haima), still continues considering the fact that some areas along the Agno River, especially in Mangatarem, are still under water.
Some areas in Sta. Barbara and Calasiao, though far from the Agno River, are also still under water, a situation they experienced since Typhoon Karen blew in.
Classes in Dagupan City remain suspended Friday, as well as in 11 towns in Pangasinan that adopted the localized suspension of classes announced by Governor Espino. (PNA)