LIGHTNING CAUSES 5-HOUR BLACKOUT IN PARTS OF VISAYAS

CEBU CITY—A lightning that struck the transmission and distribution line in Cebu caused a massive power outage in many areas of the Visayas close to midnight on Friday, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).

Maria Rosette Martinez, NGCP Visayas corporate communications and public affairs lead information officer, said power went out at 11:56 p.m. on Friday and was normalized nearly six hours later, or shortly before 6 a.m. on Saturday.

“Initial finding points to a lightning strike that caused the simultaneous tripping of the Colon-(Naga City) Cebu lines 1, 2 and 3 and the Colon-Quiot (Cebu City) line which triggered the power interruption,” she said in a statement on Saturday.

According to NGCP, the power outage affected parts of the islands of Cebu, Bohol, Leyte and Samar.

Gradual restoration of power transmission services started in Cebu at 12:52 a.m. while the last feeder energized in the Leyte-Samar area at 5:46 a.m., and in Bohol at 5:48 a.m.

NGCP is a privately owned transmission service provider in charge of operating, maintaining and developing the country’s state-owned power grid.

The Visayan Electric Co. (Veco), in an advisory posted on its social media account, said only three areas under its franchise were not affected by the blackout: the city of Naga and the towns of Minglanilla and San Fernando—all in southern Cebu.

Veco, the second largest electric distribution company in the Philippines, serves the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay and Naga, and four municipalities in Metro Cebu (Liloan, Consolacion, Minglanilla and San Fernando).

At 3 a.m., Veco said power at the government-owned Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center in Cebu City, as well as parts of Mandaue City and Consolacion town, had been restored. Power was fully restored in all its franchise areas by 4:56 a.m., it added.