‘Yolanda’ knocks out power in Visayas

City government workers are cutting a tree toppled after Supertyphoon Yolanda lashed Bacolod City. Mayor Monico O. Puentevella, who is wearing a yellow raincoat, supervises the clearing operation. Contributed photo by Paul Castillo

MANILA, Philippines—Various parts of the Visayas and one province in Luzon suffered power outages Friday as Supertyphoon Yolanda slammed into the islands on Friday, the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines  reported.

Power outages occurred in the provinces of Bohol, Cebu, Leyte, Samar, as well as the islands of Negros and Panay, NGCP said in a typhoon monitoring report. Parts of Quezon, Sorsogon, and Zamboanga del Sur also suffered outages.

NGCP said that power flow from Luzon to the Visayas was blocked as the overhead high voltage direct current line tripped.

This affected all 69kV lines in Samar and Leyte. A number of 138kV lines tripped, such as  Ormoc-Isabel, Ormoc-Babatngon, Ormoc-Maasin, Babatngon-Paranas 1 and 2, Paranas-Calbayog 2, Ormoc-Tongonan, Maasin-Ubay, Ormoc-Cabacungan. Some 230kV lines, namely Marshalling-Tabango 1 and 2 as well as Ormoc-Marshalling 1 and 2, were also affected.

All transmission lines in Bohol were also affected, as well as the Toledo-Colon 138kV line, all 138kV lines serving Negros and Panay islands, the Pitogo-Mulanay 69kV line serving Quezon province in Luzon, the Sorsogon-Irosin 69kV line, and the Sta. Clara-Sirawai 69kV line.

NGCP noted that the power loss may have been caused by affected transmission facilities of NGCP or facilities of local distribution utilities or electric cooperatives.

“Necessary preparations and precautions have been implemented to minimize the impact of the storm of NGCP operations and facilities,” NGCP said.

Such measures include ensuring the availability of hardware and other supplies for the repair of damaged facilities, as well as the positioning of line crew in strategic areas to speed up restoration work, NGCP said.

“Aerial patrol, inspection, and restoration of lines in affected areas will be in full swing as soon the weather allows,” NGCP said.