MANILA, Philippines - Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has issued precautionary measures for households in flood-stricken areas.

"After a flood, exercise all caution before you plug-and-turn on your appliances. Ask a licensed electrical practitioner to help find out if it would be safe to turn your power back on," said Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco External Communications Manager.

Meralco likewise provided a list of precautionary measures with regard electrical facilities after a household has been submerged in flood:

* Make sure that the main electrical power switch or circuit breaker is turned off. When you need to touch a switch and the floor is still wet, stand on dry board or carton or wear rubber sole boots. Use a dry stick or rubber gloves, or well-insulated pliers or tools to pull handles;

* Unplug all equipment and appliances. Turn off the switch of permanently connected equipment. Unscrew all light bulbs if possible;

* Remove mud and dirt from the service equipment or main circuit breaker/fuse and its enclosure with rubber gloves and rubber sole shoes;

* Allow electrical wires, connectors and other wiring devices to dry completely. Drying may take days, depending on how wet the system is and on external temperature;

* When all electrical wires and accessories are dry and clean, the wiring system must be checked, and;

*The appliance itself must be completely dry, serviced or checked by a licensed electrician. Do not turn on damaged electrical appliances.

As of 2 p.m. Thursday only six distribution circuits, or less than 1 percent of the total 683 distribution circuits in the entire Meralco franchise are still without power. These circuits are those still severely affected by the massive flooding.

Meralco said it is doing its best to bring electric service back in the remaining areas, however, it may take some time to restore power in these places since Meralco is waiting for floodwaters to substantially subside.

Meralco is also conducting a thorough meter-to-meter check to its affected customers.

"This is also a precautionary and safety measure that we are undertaking before we restore electricity back to our customers' homes. Many of the meters in the areas heavily hit by "Ondoy" were submerged in floodwaters."

Zaldarriaga asked Meralco customers whose meters have been submerged in floodwater to report the matter to Meralco. They may call the Meralco hotline at 16211 or text their concerns to 0917-559-2824 and 0920-929-2824.