Rosales’ business district, where a newly opened SM mall is located, was swamped by floods that reached at least five feet.

Farmers and business groups said they would file a separate damage suit against the SRMP after floods destroyed their properties.

“There’s too much devastation. It could run to hundreds of millions,” said Rosendo So, president of the Eastern Pangasinan Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Anong Manalo, president of the Region 1 Confederation of Irrigators’ Associations, said several thousands of hectares of rice land were flooded in Rosales, Villasis, Tayug and other eastern Pangasinan towns, destroying crops and killing farm animals.

“The floodwaters deprived our farmers a source of their livelihood,” he said.

Pangasinan Rep. Victor Agbayani, a former governor, said dam officials should explain to the people of Pangasinan the apparent suddenness of the water release.

“Believe it or not, if the San Roque Dam was not built, and there is no dam to hold the rainwater from the mountains, the floodwater could have easily been twice as much in volume and destruction,” he said.