MANILA – Nearly three million households suffered from power outages Sunday due to the impact of Super Typhoon Uwan (international name Fung-wong) but the National Electrification Administration (NEA) on Monday assured that assessments are ongoing.
NEA, in a press release, said at least 20 electric cooperatives in 12 affected regions declared total power interruptions, as Uwan lashed the Bicol region as well as the provinces of Aurora, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino, Northern Samar and Samar.
Quoting NEA Administrator Antonio Mariano Almeda, NEA said around 2,931,220 member-consumer-owners are waiting for electricity services to be restored after the super typhoon.
Almeda said some of the outages occurred after electric cooperi closeatives implemented safety protocols to cushion the impact of the heavy winds on the power lines and facilities.
“Humihingi po kami ng konting understanding at pasensya... Hindi po madaling magbalik ng kuryente pag lagpas ng typhoon (We ask for a bit of understanding and patience… It is not easy to bring electricity back after a typhoon passes),” he said during a radio interview.
“Lahat po yan ay i-i-inspect at gagawa ng line assessment ang mga electric cooperative to make sure wala pong disgrasya, lalong-lalo na po doon sa mga metro na lumubog sa baha. Masinsin po nilang ini-inspect po ‘yan just to make sure na walang madidisgrasya (Everything will be inspected, and the electric cooperatives will conduct line assessments to ensure safety, particularly for meters under floodwaters. They’re carrying out thorough inspections to prevent accidents), ” he added.
Based on the 8 a.m. bulletin of the weather bureau, Uwan was last estimated at around 125 km. west northwest of Bacnotan, La Union, moving west-northwest at 20 km/h and packing maximum sustained winds of 150 km/h near the center and gustiness of up to 185/km/h. (PNA)