PAGASA: 4 Luzon dams open gates, release water

Four dams in Luzon have opened gates and released water, state weather bureau PAGASA said Saturday as successive weather disturbances and the enhanced Southwest Monsoon (Habagat) dumped heavy rains over the past days.

In its Dam Water Level Update, PAGASA said three gates each were opened in Ambuklao Dam in Bokod, Benguet and Binga Dam in Itogon in the same province.

Magat Dam, located between Ifugao and Isabela, and Ipo Dam, which lies in Bulacan, each had one gate releasing water.

All of the gates in Ambuklao and Binga Dams were opened at 1.5 meters wide.

The water level in Ambuklao was at 751.78 meters, close to breaching the normal high-water level of 752 meters.

This marked a 0.43-meter increase from the previous reading of 751.35 meters on Friday.

Binga Dam saw an slight increase in water level, from 574.45 meters on Friday to 574.67 meters on Saturday. It was close to reaching normal high-water level of 575 meters.

Meanwhile, Magat Dam's gate was opened at 2 meters.

The dam currently has 186.43 meters of water, which was a decrease from Friday’s 190 meters and 3.57 meters away from the normal high-water level of 190 meters.

Ipo dam also had one gate open at 0.15 meters, with the water level measuring at 100.24 meters.

The current water level was lower than Friday’s 100.80 meters, or 0.30 meters away from the normal high-water level of 101.10 meters.

Gates of the other dams remained closed with water levels still behind the normal high-water level.

Tropical Depression Igme exited the Philippine Area of Responsibility (PAR) on Saturday before dawn.

Ferdie left PAR on Sept. 14, while Gener and Helen exited on Sept. 18.

The tropical cyclones enhanced the Southwest Monsoon, which brought rains to several areas. — Jiselle Anne Casucian/ VDV, GMA Integrated News