Typhoon Basyang' collapses billboards, cuts power lines in Metro
Tropical cyclone "Basyang" (Conson) forced its way to the nation’s capital and nearby provinces into shadows as it snaps off power to franchise areas of the Manila Electric Co. Meralco.
Meralco’s entire franchise area was affected, said owners. Part of the blame for the blackout was the failure to roll up their billboards, which crashed on some power lines.
Meralco’s Teresa Adriano said, "Lahat ng apektado na customer kumukuha sa Meralco ng kuryente (The affected included all of Meralco’s customers)."
As early as Tuesday noon, Adriano said Meralco had warned owners to roll down their billboards .
"Ayon sa monitoring, may billboards na bumagsak sa ating mga linya (According to our monitoring, some billboards fell on our power lines)," she said.
"Dapat alam nila na pag bagyo i-roll ang billboard (They already knew to roll up their billboards when there is such a storm)," she added.
She said the blackout happened at 12:42 a.m.
Meralco services the entire Metro Manila and parts of Laguna, Quezon, Cavite and Bulacan.
Adriano encouraged the public to contact Meralco’s hotlines at 16211 or 0917-5592824.
Affected of cut-off lines included those in North and South Luzon Expressways, NLEX exit at Monumento, and the service road at Baesa in Caloocan City.
As of 4 a.m., she said some circuits were restored but these were in Calamba and Cabuyao in Laguna; and Trece Martires City in Cavite.
In Metro Manila, there was still zero restoration as of 4 a.m. since the lines of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines are still down, she admitted.
In spite of the power outage and damages brought by Basyang, work continued at some government offices Wednesday.
In Manila, Mayor Alfredo Lim,ordered city employees to report for work, but will excuse those whose house were flooded.
"Sinuswelduhan rin naman sila (They are getting their salaries so they should report for work)," Lim said in an interview.
However at the Senate, the Office of the Senate President canceled work for Wednesday due to the floods and power outage caused by Basyang.
Radio dwIZ reported the Office of the Senate President issued the announcement at 6 a.m.
Earlier reports, the Commission on Higher Education (CHED) declared it was leaving to college administrators the decision on whether to suspend classes.
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