Slow restoration of power in typhoon-hit Ilocos Norte dismays Sen. Imee

Linemen from Ilocos Norte electric cooperative have been deployed and working over time to immediately restore power in the province in the wake of Super Typhoon Egay. (Photo courtesy of Inec)

LAOAG CITY, Ilocos Norte—Teams from Tarlac and Pangasinan provinces will help fast-track the restoration of electricity in disaster-hit Ilocos Norte after a large part of the province remained without power in the wake of Typhoon “Egay” (international name: Doksuri) on Friday, July 28.

Senator Imee Marcos, who previously served as a three-term governor of Ilocos Norte said the local electric cooperative’s restoration efforts are going at a “dismal rate.”

In a social media post, the Ilocos Norte electric cooperative (Inec) said power had been restored in 78 barangays, or 13.95 percent, as of Friday. The province has 559 barangays.

“Ang dami-dami nating windmills, solar [facilities], yun pala walang kuryente,” the senator and sister of President Ferdinand Marcos jr. told reporters after she arrived in the province on Friday afternoon to assess and monitor the impacts of Egay.

(We have so many windmills, solar facilities, but it turns out there’s still no electricity.)

She said the Inec is currently facing a shortage of linemen who need to fix toppled power lines.

“Kulang na kulang ang linemen. Ang dami-daming tinanggal, hindi naman pala nag-train ng bago e ngayon nangangarag na tayo. Nagpapatulong tayo sa [Department of Public Works and Highways], e wala naman silang alam sa kuryente,” the presidential sister said.

(We have a severe shortage of linemen. They removed so many without training replacements, and now we’re in chaos. We’re seeking help from the Department of Public Works and Highways, but they don’t know anything about electricity.)

Although equipment is available, there are not sufficient linemen available to ascend the poles and repair the lines to immediately restore electricity in the province, she said.

“This is the situation; unfortunately, it is not a good one,” said Marcos.

Atty. Gauttier Dupaya, Inec’s project supervisor and acting general manager, said at a press conference on Friday night that there were linemen who were hired to replace those who previously resigned.

The primary factor that mostly affected their restoration effort was the massive extent of infrastructure damage caused by Egay, said Inec.

Dupaya added that nine teams would be deployed by the National Electrification Administration to the province to immediately restore power.

He noted that they have prioritized fixing main power lines going to the city and municipal halls, hospitals, and evacuation centers, adding that lateral or household lines will immediately follow.

Egay left a trail of devastation in the province, which incurred at least P2 billion in infrastructure damage and P361 million in agriculture losses.

The super typhoon also displaced more than 60,000 individuals after the state weather bureau said that it dumped more than a month’s worth of rain, or 620 millimeters, in two days. The average rainfall monitored in the capital city for July was 478.9 millimeters.

“We have to work on this and ramp up our electrification efforts. Our response needs to be better,” Marcos said. INQ

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