Floods in Pangasinan due to added rainfall

By Gabriel L. Cardinoza

DAGUPAN CITY -- The total rainfall in Pangasinan last month reached 716.6 millimeters (mm), which is about 184.8 mm more than the 531.8 mm projected rainfall in the province for July, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) office here said on Tuesday.
    Pagasa's local chief meteorologist, Jose Estrada Jr., said the excess rainfall was due to Typhoons "Egay" and "Falcon" enhancing the southwest monsoon.
    Estrada said that the first high amount of rain that fell on the province was on July 25, when 112.4 mm of rain was recorded. Then on July 27, the amount of rain recorded was 162 mm, the highest for July. (In a 1-mm rainfall, an area of 1 square meter gets a liter of rainwater.)
    "This is one of the reasons why some towns and a city traversed by the Sinocalan River are experiencing flooding now," said Estrada in a telephone interview.
    Sinocalan has its headwaters on Mount Ampucao in Benguet province and cuts through the towns of San Manuel, Binalonan, Laoac, Mapandan, Sta. Barbara and Calasiao, and Dagupan City.
    At 12 noon on Tuesday, Dagupan City Mayor Belen Fernandez said in her social media post that the high tide and the water coming from upstream also contributed to the flooding.
    A 1.39-meter high tide inundated the city at 9:09 a.m. The city has an average elevation of 1 meter. Any tide higher than 1 meter immediately floods seven villages, especially those located near the river.
    In her post, Fernandez said that waist-deep floods persist in the villages of Bacayao Sur, Bacayao Norte, Lasip Chico, Lasip Grange, Pogo Grande, Pogo Chico and Malued.
    "At present, we have more than 30,000 families or about 116,000 individuals who have been affected by severe flooding caused by Typhoon Egay," Fernandez said.
    She said that all of the city's 31 villages were still under floodwaters.
    In neighboring Calasiao town, Mayor Kevin Roy Macanlalay continued to distribute food packs to residents affected by the massive flooding.
    As of 9 a.m. Tuesday, some 75 families consisting of 239 individuals remained in the town's different evacuation centers.
    He said the flood affected a total of 13,491 families consisting of 68,763 individuals residing in 23 of its 24 villages.
    Classes in all levels in the town were suspended anew Tuesday.
    In Lingayen, Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office (PDRRMO) chief Rhodyn Luchinvar Oro thanked various government agencies for working with his teams.
    Oro said they continue to monitor the Sinocalan River, which has affected some 52,000 families in the town of Santa Barbara, 82,000 families in Calasiao and 90,000 in Dagupan City.
    As of July 31, the Department of Social Welfare and Development had distributed a total of 7,030 food packs, while the provincial government had distributed a total of 2,825 food packs and 550 hygiene kits, in different municipalities of the province.
    The provincial government also provided assistance to the province of Ilocos Norte by sending a search and rescue team composed of eight personnel from PDRRMO and two soldiers from the Armed Forces of the Philippines.