12 Southern Leyte towns still without electricity

DESTRUCTION In this photo taken on Dec. 17, 2021, a day after Typhoon “Odette” ripped through the Visayas, residents of Ubay, Bohol, dig through the debris left in Barangay Fatima to find anything they can use. Power supply in many devastated areas, like Southern Leyte, has yet to be restored more than a month after the typhoon struck. —LEO UDTOHAN

TACLOBAN CITY—Power supply has yet to be restored in most parts of Southern Leyte more than a month after the province and other areas in the Visayas were battered by Typhoon “Odette” (international name: Rai).

Southern Leyte Electric Cooperative (Soleco) said 12 of the province’s 19 towns had yet to be energized while supply in other areas, including the capital city of Maasin, had been partially restored.

Most of the province’s government offices and hospitals are located in areas where power had been restored, like Maasin and the towns of Saint Bernard, Sogod, Bontoc, Macrohon, Liloan and San Juan.

The Department of Energy earlier said it would take until March to fully restore power supply in Southern Leyte.

All of Eastern Visayas’ 13 power distributors, as well as those coming from other regions, like Ilocos Norte Electric Cooperative, have sent teams to help in the restoration of power in Southern Leyte.

In Metro Cebu, another area which was also devastated by Odette, power supply was restored to 79.62 percent, or 377,555, of its 474,182 customers as of Thursday.

Visayan Electric earlier announced that Metro Cebu could expect the full restoration of power supply by Jan. 31. —JOEY A. GABIETA