CABANATUAN CITY – Pantabangan Dam has started releasing water starting 11 a.m. Sunday as its elevation rose to a critical level of 220.2 meters as super typhoon "Pepeng" dumped more rain in the surrounding regions.

The announcement was made Sunday morning by Engineer Antonio S. Nangel, operations manager of the National Irrigation Administration-Upper Pampanga River Integrated Irrigation Service Operations.

The announcement came on the heels of an actual damage survey conducted by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo here on a sortie of eight Central Luzon provinces. She met with various provincial disaster coordinating councils for their assessment on infrastructure and crop damage.

Nangel justified the release of water at the rate of 120 cubic meters per second from Pantabangan’s 8,600-hectare reservoir due to the inflow of 252 cubic meters coming from Casecnan and Taan rivers in Nueva Vizcaya and Aurora. He said that considering the dam’s spilling level of 221 meters, its current elevation of 220.28 meters is at a very critical level, thus necessitating the gradual release of water. Nangel said this exercise is necessary as a precautionary measure to prevent any undue rise in excess water, or water inflow, in the event of a sudden surge of rainwater spawned by a strong storm like what tropical storm “Ondoy” did in Metro Manila and surrounding provinces last month.

An initial report from Abraham Pascua of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, co-chairman of the Nueva Ecija provincial disaster coordinating council, said Ondoy caused some P307 million in damage on crops alone.

From the accumulated reports, the town of Llanera appears to have suffered the most damage at P773 million, representing 2,576 hectares of rice lands submerged in knee-deep waters.

The other affected towns with massive crop damage are Sto. Domingo, P70 million; Licab, P49 million; Carranglan, P43.1 million; and Nampicuan, P43 million.

Heavy crop damage were also reported in Aliaga, Bongabon, Cuyapo, Gen. Natividad, Gen. Tinio, Guimba, Jaen, Laur, Licab, Pantabangan, Penaranda, Quezon, Rizal, San Antonio, San Isidro, San Leonardo, Sta. Rosa, Sto. Domingo, Talavera, Talugtug and Zaragoza and the cities of Cabanatuan, Gapan, Munoz and Palayan.