Elementary classes in Dagupan suspended on Wednesday due to flooding

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines—The Dagupan city government announced on Tuesday the suspension of classes in the elementary level here on Wednesday due to widespread flooding.

City administrator Vladimir Mata, in a local radio interview, said the decision was reached after a meeting with local education officials. Classes and work in government and private offices are scheduled to resume here on Wednesday after the holidays on Monday and Tuesday.

Mata said they were still studying the possibility of suspending classes in high school.

As of Tuesday, 12 of 31 barangays in Dagupan remained under water.

Malen Bernardo-Pilon, an assistant of Mayor Benjamin Lim, said the city’s major streets remained passable to all types of vehicles but the interior roads were closed to traffic.

Pilon said high tide worsened the flooding in the city, with water from the Lingayen Gulf inundating the city’s business district.

Flooded villages include Malued, Bacayao Norte, Bacayao Sur, Lasip Grande, Lasip Chico, Lucao, Pogo Grande, Herrero-Perez, Manguin, Salisay, Pantal and Mamalingling.

On Monday night, some families were evacuated from the villages of Malued, Manguin and Herrero-Perez due to rising floodwater from the rivers crisscrossing the city.

Officials of the San Roque Power Corp. on Tuesday said the utility has not released any excess water from the San Roque Dam in San Manuel town.

Dam officials also said that they have no plan to release water on Tuesday because the dam’s water elevation was far from its spilling level. At 8 a.m. Tuesday, the dam’s water level was recorded at 269 meters above sea level, which is about 11 meters below its spilling level of 280 meters.

Dam officials said they would inform the provincial disaster risk reduction and management council  if the dam would release water so an advisory could be disseminated to municipal governments along the Agno River, the areas that are at risk of flooding.