No floods, evacuations in Central Luzon as storms pass
By Tonette Orejas, Vincent Cabreza
Northern Luzon Bureau, Central Luzon Desk
First Posted 15:39:00 05/17/2008
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Philippines -- While tropical storms “Cosme” and “Dindo” brought rain to wide areas of Central and Northern Luzon, the moderate downpours apparently did not cause any floods or landslides as of noon Saturday, reports from the Office of Civil Defense and Regional Disaster Coordinating Council showed.
Provincial Disaster Coordinating Councils in Aurora, Bataan, Bulacan, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales were on alert, however, said Neri Amparo, OCD regional director.
In Aurora, provincial administrator Alex Ocampo said a team from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology arrived on Saturday to prepare the villagers of the village of Borlongan in Dipaculao and the village of Simbahan in Dinalungan for tsunami drills scheduled in June.
Officials of the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport’s operations center in the Clark Freeport in Pampanga said no local or international flight was cancelled there as of noon.
All major roads in the region were passable, according to Chief Superintendent Errol Pan, chair of the RDCC.
In Baguio City, reports from the Cordillera OCD said the Calanan Road in the boundary of Mountain Province and Kalinga, and the road linking Barlig and Natonin towns in Mountain Province were closed to traffic on Saturday morning.
The OCD did not say why the roads were closed but indicated they were to be reopened later Saturday.
The OCD said reports from the National Transmission Corp. on Saturday showed water levels in the three dams in Benguet have not reached critical levels despite the rains.
The water level at Ambuklao dam was 745.65 meters, 6.35 meters below the critical level. Binga dam’s water level was 567.15 meters, 7.85 meters below its critical mark.
The water level at the San Roque dam in the boundary of Benguet and Pangasinan was 241.99 meters, 48 meters below its critical level.
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