‘Isang’ brings relief to parched farms

The coming of tropical depression “Isang,” which developed into a storm Wednesday, was a most welcome event in Isabela province. In fact, it must be the first time that a storm has made a community happy.

Parched farmlands in northern Isabela, which experienced limited rainfall in June, were suddenly drenched with rain on Tuesday and Wednesday, said Danilo Tumamao, the provincial agriculturist.

Tumamao said 80,000 hectares of corn fields were wet thoroughly by Isang. About 11,000 hectares of these fields were nearly destroyed by the dry spell, Tumamao said.

But if Isang had brought winds and become stronger, about 70,000 hectares of farmlands would have been destroyed, he said.

Isabela Gov. Faustino Dy III imposed a liquor ban in the province on Tuesday until after the storm had moved away.

Edmund Guzman, Isabela provincial disaster management officer, said the provincial government had sent 100 packs of relief goods to the coastal towns of Dinapigue, Divilacan, Maconacon and Palanan, which are usually isolated when weather disturbances beset the province.

Authorities reported a slight swelling of the Cagayan, Pinacanauan, Magat and Siffu rivers.

Saturnino Tenedor, the Magat Dam instrumentation section chief, said the water elevation at the dam reservoir was 180.75 meters above sea level (Masl) on July 17. The dam’s spilling level is at 190 masl.

Based on the weather bureau’s outlook for Thursday, the Ilocos Region, Cagayan Valley, the Cordillera Administrative Region and Aurora province will experience rains and gusty winds with moderate to rough seas.

The rest of Luzon, Western and Central Visayas, Northern Mindanao and the Zamboanga Peninsula will have cloudy skies with light to moderate rainshowers and thunderstorms.

The rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rain showers or thunderstorms, Pagasa said.

Moderate to strong winds blowing from the southwest will prevail over the rest of Luzon and the coastal waters along these areas will be moderate to rough, it added.

Elsewhere, winds will be light to moderate coming from the west to southwest with slight to moderate seas, Pagasa said.