MANILA, Philippines — The water in La Mesa Dam already subsided below overflowing level on Thursday, according to state meteorologists.
Nathaniel Servando, administrator of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa), said the dam’s water level was at 80.13 meters as of Thursday morning.
READ: La Mesa Dam overflows due to Carina, habagat
“La Mesa Dam reached overflow level yesterday,” Servando said in a situational briefing with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
Upon reaching 80.15 meters, Pagasa said earlier that excess water from the dam is expected to overflow.
“Currently it’s 80.13, the rains are not that much so we expect La Mesa level to be lower,” Servando said.
At one point, the dam’s water level was at 80.17 meters due to heavy rains caused by southwest monsoon and Typhoon Carina.
La Mesa Dam does not have floodgates.
This means that the overflowing water of the dam already flowed to the Tullahan River the moment it exceeded the maximum capacity of 80.15 meters.
Bernard Punzalan, public information office chief of Pagasa, said the water from the dam may be one of the contributing factors to the floods in Quezon City, Valenzuela, and Malabon.