Despite typhoons, dry spells persist in Northern Luzon

BY ARMAND TAMARAY

TUGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan -- The series of typhoons that hit Northern Luzon, especially the Cagayan Vallley the past weeks have not been enough to officially signal the end of the dry spell, according to the Department of Agriculture.
Dr. Gumersido Lasam, regional DA director said rains brought by the typhoons, although a welcome respite for farmers and their crops, did not provide any substantial change in the water level at Magat Dam in Ramon town, Isabela.

As of August 20, the dam reportedly measured 162.09 meters, clearly still within critical level.

“In fact, typhoon “egay” only provided showers which barely raised the water level in the dam,” said Lasam, adding there had been no letup in cloud seeding.

Engineer Edwin Pasion, NIA’s flood forecasting officer at the Magat Dam, said the normal water level at the dam should be at least 180 meters.

“We are continuously conducting cloud seeding operations over the whole of Northern Luzon. We only stopped during the typhoons because the strong winds will cause difficulty to the planes,” Lasam said.

Previous reports said Philippine Air Force pilots were resuming cloud seeding operations targeting the clouds above Magat Dam, hoping to induce rain.

“This is not totally correct, since we have been continuously conducting cloud seeding over the area,” Lasam said.

There had been no letup in the operation to save the remaining rice and corn and other crops from further damage due to drought.

As of press time, crop losses were in the billions of pesos.

Some P2.3 million had been previously allotted for cloud seeding operations, DA officials said.

The Magat Dam is a major provider of irrigation to some 100,000 hectares of rice and corn land in Isabela and part of Cagayan and Quirino provinces, all declared calamity areas because of the drought.

The three mainland provinces and neighboring Nueva Vizcaya, which was also affected by the dry spell although its provincial leadership did not officially declare a state of calamity, produce some 40 percent of the rice and corn in the country.

Last week, the national government through the DA, granted P220-million assistance for the Isabela government to alleviate economic losses it incurred as a result of the recent prolonged dry spell.

According to DA Secretary Arthur Yap, the assistance includes the P168 million allotted for rehabilitation of irrigation systems of the National Irrigation Administration, especially those under the Magat River Integrated Irrigation System.

In addition, the DA also approved the release of P55 million for the construction of small water impounding dams and shallow tube wells and other related agriculture facilities in the province.

Cagayan Valley, a major rice and crop-producing region, lost almost a billion pesos in damaged crops, including fishery or fresh water products, with Isabela, the country’s top rice and corn producer, suffering the bulk of agricultural losses due to the dry spell.

Isabela lost more than P650 million in damaged rice, corn, vegetable crops and fishery products; followed by Cagayan, P150 million; Quirino, P100 million and Nueva Vizcaya, P85,000.

Meanwhile, the Department of Education will undertake an assessment of the damage wrought by typhoons “Chedeng” “Dodong” and Egay in public schools throughout Luzon that had resulted in the suspension of classes most of the last week.

Kenneth Tirado, DepEd communications unit officer-in-charge, said as of August 20, DepEd had no information yet on actual number of schools affected by the three typhoons.

Tirado said they would gather reports from their regional offices on the extent of the damage in their respective jurisdictions in the next weeks.