SAN MANUEL, Pangasinan – The National Power Corporation (Napocor) here raised flood warnings in 10 towns in the eastern part of Pangasinan which are expected to be inundated as the San Roque Dam, the biggest dam in Asia, started releasing excess water from its reservoir since Wednesday midnight.

The rise in the water levels of the dams in Luzon is due to the heavy rains brought about by Tropical Storm “Ondoy” and Typhoon “Pepeng” which devastated most parts of Northern Luzon.

Antonio Calaycay, community relations officer of the Napocor’s flood forecasting and warning system for dam operations based in San Roque here, said San Roque Dam has already opened two of its six gates at one meter each in order to reduce the level of water on its reservoir which is at 286.9 meters.

While the spilling of excess water will only result in a few centimeters rise in the water level of the Agno River, Calaycay pointed out people living along it should be warned so that they will adopt appropriate safety measures to prevent whatever loss of lives and damage to property that could be inflicted by the rushing waters.

The affected eastern Pangasinan municipalities include Alcala, Asingan, Bayambang, Bautista, Rosales, Santa Maria, San Manuel, San Nicholas, Tayog, and Villasis.

Calaycay said the release of excess water from the dam will depend on the prevailing weather condition in order to avoid the power generation facility from reaching its critical level of 290 meters above sea level.

The Napocor official claimed that San Roque management decided to release water from its reservoir because its intake has tremendously increased to 1,045 cubic meters per second while its release is only 425 cubic meters per second over the past several days.

In a bid to avoid loss of life and limb, San Roque Dam management said it is releasing excess water at a minimal level.