‘Ineng’ cuts power, trees in Albay

LEGAZPI CITY—Albay suffered rotating brownouts of up to two hours on Saturday as winds exceeding 50 kilometers per hour and rain battered the province in the last two days.

Wind associated with the southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoon “Ineng” toppled a number of electric posts and trees in Albay, resulting in outages in many areas, including this city, said Manuel Imperial, general manager of the Albay Power and Energy Corp.

Power was restored shortly before noon on Friday, Imperial said.

Disaster authorities in Albay have asked small vessels to stay out of the sea amid the gale warning issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) on Saturday.

The weather bureau said strong to gale force winds were expected in areas in Luzon and the eastern seaboard of Visayas.

In Southern Luzon, the sea was rough to very rough with waves rising to up to 4.5 meters.

The Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC) in Bicol had raised the “blue alert” over the region since Thursday as Ineng hovered over the Bicol peninsula with moderate to heavy rains, the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) Bicol said.

Rafael Bernardo Alejandro, OCD Bicol director and RDRRMC chairperson, said the blue alert placed all disaster personnel from various agencies on standby and on 24-hour duty.

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda on Friday also asked residents to be vigilant as rain brought by the enhanced southwest monsoon might trigger floods, lahar flows and landslides in low-lying and mountain slope areas in the 15 towns and three cities of the province.

Town and city disaster councils in the province were also tasked with preventing fishermen from sailing as a precaution. Michael B. Jaucian and Mar Arguelles, Inquirer Southern Luzon