Power, water, phones go back online

Repair crews were out in full force to restore power, water and cell sites to more than 90 percent of Metro Cebu and the rest of Cebu province in the wake of typhoon “Yolanda’s” wrath.

While the Visayan Electric Co. (Veco) managed to restore power in some parts of Cebu City three hours after the typhoon struck, power lines in towns hardest hit by Yolanda were damaged.

Veco said they received word that the Cebu-Panay grid was down.

The Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) also said it restored 30 percent of water supply in its service area or about 60,000 cu m. 17 operational wells with MCWD generator sets.

In its Facebook page, MCWD said water service was restored in Banawa, Banilad, Talisay to downtown Cebu City and Liloan and some areas in barangays Lahug, Tisa, Osmeña Boulevard and Capitol Site in Cebu City.

In their advisories, Smart and Sun Cellular said their services were affected in Eastern Samar and in areas of Leyte, including Tacloban and Ormoc, and some parts of northern Cebu.

Smart and Sun offered free call and text services last night at Libreng Tawag stations in evacuation centers in Ormoc City Central School, Tacloban City Astrodome and San Jose, Mindoro.

For their part, Veco corporate communications manager Theresa Gonzales-Sederiosa said portions of barangays Calamba, Ermita and Carreta with a total load of 12 MW were restored.

“Further updates will be made available as soon as we are able to energize more areas,” she said.

Franchise area

Sederiosa said Veco deployed their feeder patrollers around their franchise area as soon as the rains and winds eased up at 2 p.m.

“They provided us information on which areas are safe to restore power as soon as it is safe to do so,” she said.

She said NGCP’s transmission lines in these areas were not damaged, making it possible for Veco to easily restore power there.

As of 6 p.m some areas in Banilad and Cabancalan, Cebu City already have power. Veco services 360,000 customers within their franchise area.

Veco community relations manager Eric Ching said they cut off power in their franchise area from Liloan in the north to San Fernando in the south starting at 8:30 a.m. shortly before the typhoon hit at 9:28 a.m. as a precautionary measure.

Ching said the NGCP was able to supply Veco 60 MW of their 150 MW daily supply.

Patroling

Elsewhere, power lines in Daanbantayan and Compostela which were hardest hit by Yolanda were reported damaged at 2 p.m. yesterday.

NGCP corporate communications officer Elmer Cruz said these lines were the Tabango-Daanbantayan 1 and 2 and Compostela-Daanbantayan 1 and 2.

“We will be conducting aerial patroling to check on other lines and restore those that were damaged as soon as the weather clears,” he said. All 69 kV lines in Samar Leyte and Bohol provinces were also damaged as well as lines connecting Marshalling to Tabango and Ormoc to Marshalling.