Brownouts hit Albay

LEGAZPI CITY—One to two hours of rotated brownouts affected many parts of Albay on Saturday amid strong winds and heavy to moderate rains experienced in the province over the last two days.

Strong winds associated with the southwest monsoon enhanced by Typhoon “Ineng” (international name: Goni) toppled a number of electric posts and trees in Albay, resulting in power outages in many areas, including Legazpi City, said Manuel Imperial, general manager of the Albay Power Corp. (Apec).

The affected areas were mainly Legazpi City and the neighboring towns of Daraga, Camalig, and Manito as electricity had to be cut for at least two hours by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to give way to the clearing of fallen electric poles, trees and branches that affected the power lines between the Washington and Bitano substations in Legazpi City, said Liz Macasinag, Apec public relation officer.

The power service in Legazpi and neighboring areas was restored shortly before noon, Apec officials said.

Disaster authorities in Albay, meanwhile, have asked small seacraft to refrain from sailing amid the gale warning issued by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration on Saturday.

The weather bureau said strong to gale force winds were expected to affect the seaboards of Luzon and the eastern seaboard of Visayas as Ineng enhanced the hagabat.

In Southern Luzon, the sea was rough to very rough with waves rising from 3.5 meters to 4.5 meters, while winds force (land) was between 52 and 63 kilometers per hour or from 28 to 34 knots (sea), the Pagasa said.

The affected areas included Cavite, Batangas, Quezon including Polillo Island, Mindoro provinces, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan, Masbate including Burias Island, Camarines provinces, Catanduanes, Sorsogon and Albay.

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

Rafael Bernardo Alejandro, OCD-Bicol director and RDRRMC chair, said the blue alert placed all disaster personnel from various agencies on standby and on 24/7 duty for any eventuality and to ensure public safety and to sustain the “zero casualty” goal.

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.

The various town and city disaster councils in the province were also tasked to prevent fishermen from sailing due to dangerous sea waves spawned by Typhoon Ineng.

Ineng, which has been battering Northern Luzon over the last 24 hours, continued to move slowly north northeast at 11 kph, with an estimated rainfall amount from moderate to heavy within a 500-km diameter.

As of 1 p.m. Saturday, Ineng was located 75 km east of Basco, Batanes, packing maximum sustained winds of 160 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 195 kph.

Batanes, Calayan, and the Babuyan Group of Islands remained under signal No. 3, with winds of 121-170 kph expected in at least 18 hours.

Under storm signal No. 2 were northern Cagayan, Apayao and Ilocos Norte. The rest of Cagayan, Isabela, Kalinga, Mt. Province, Abra, and Ilocos Sur were placed under storm signal No. 1.

Typhoon Ineng was projected to be outside the Philippine area of responsibility by Monday morning. RC