Ambuklao, Binga dams spill water due to heavy rains brought by ‘Nona’

DAGUPAN CITY—The Ambuklao and Binga dams in Benguet province have begun to discharge water into the Agno River, an official of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) said on Thursday. This was after typhoon “Nona,” now a low pressure area, dumped heavy rains since Monday.

Valeriano Barro, Napocor flood operations manager, said Ambuklao opened its spillway gate at 8 p.m. on Wednesday while Binga began releasing water at 3 p.m. on the same day.

According to the government weather agency’s website, both dams opened one gate at half meter each, spilling water at the rate of 60 cubic meters per second. A cubic meter of water is equivalent to 1,000 liters or an estimated five drums of water.

Water released from Ambuklao flows into the Binga reservoir, while the water released by Binga flows downstream to the San Roque Dam in Pangasinan province.

As of 6 a.m. Thursday, Ambuklao had a water level of 750.52 meters above sea level (masl), which is 1.48 meters below its maximum level.

Binga’s water elevation was recorded at 575.5 masl, just 50 centimeters below its maximum level of 575 masl.

Barro said the San Roque Dam will not spill water, saying that upland water it catches was still at manageable quantities.

As of 6 a.m., water level at San Roque Dam was 278.93 masl, which is 11.07 meters below its maximum level of 290 masl. RAM

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