By Leonardo V. MicuaT
THE National Power Corporation (NPC) tagged the unusual unprecedented heavy rains caused by climate change and not the release of water from the San Roque Dam as the culprit behind the massive flood that happened in Dagupan City and Pangasinan from October 8 to 14 this year.

Denying that their office had something to do with the flood that submerged 34 towns and cities of Pangasinan, Rogelio Redublado, a section manager of NPC, and Virgilio
Garcia, an engineer, stuck to their claim that it was the unusual volume of rains dumped by Typhoon Pepeng in Northern and Central Luzon that caused the massive flooding.

Redublado and Garcia appeared before the city council session here on Monday to answer some questions raised by councilors pertaining to the recent massive floods that inundated the 31 barangays of the city, most of which under nine feet deep of water.

Redublado said that NPC commiserates with the families affected by typhoon “Pepeng” not only in the province of Pangasinan, but in all other areas as well, pointing out this as a “tragic event in our history.”

He said that typhoon “Pepeng” brought in more rains than what the country ever experienced, more than 200 times the average rainfall for the past 16 years, noting that the country was not prepared for this kind of typhoon.

Redublado’s statement was corroborated by Garcia, the new officer-in-charge of the Agno Flood Forecasting and Warning System for Dam Operation.

He said because of the heavy rains, Binga Dam in the Upper Agno River Basin released water at least 50 times while San Roque Dam only four times.

It is the San Roque Dam, located in San Manuel, Pangasinan downstream of the Agno River, where all the water released by the Ambuklao and Binga Dams are going.