Dry spell in Luzon except in Region 2 lifted

By Ronron
August 14, 2007

The government on Tuesday announced the lifting of the alarm for dry spell in the affected regions in Luzon, except in Region 2, with the onset of the rainy season due to the entry of weather disturbances.

National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) Executive Officer Glenn Rabonza said that as of Monday, only Region 2 was being targeted for cloud-seeding operations.

NDCC spokesman Dr. Anthony Golez had said on July 26 that a dry spell was being felt in Regions 1, 2, 3, the Cordilleras, and parts of Regions 4 and 5 due to the abnormally low amount of rainfall hitting said areas.

Golez had warned then that if the dry spell continues in August and September, then a drought may be experienced in those areas.

“The dry spell did not reach the third month. Typhoon CHEDENG entered the country last August 6 so the rains stopped the dry spell,” Rabonza told reporters Tuesday at Camp Aguinaldo.

“But Region 2 remains to have abnormally low level of rain so we resumed the cloud-seeding there yesterday (Monday),” he added.

Asked why there is no rain in Region 2, Rabonza said: “According to Undersecretary (Graciano) Yumul (of the Department of Science and Technology), the mountain ranges in the Cordillera prevented the monsoon rains to cross over (towards Region 2).”

Rabonza said he hopes the entry of typhoon “Egay” and the daily cloud-seeding operations in Region 2 will cure the dry spell in the area.

Rabonza said that while the dry spell will have an effect on the agricultural production in Luzon, he assured, quoting Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, that there will be no food shortage.

Rabonza had defined the “dry spell” as an abnormal situation because it happened at a time when the country is supposed to be wet./DMS