CEBU, Philippines - Three days after super typhoon Yolanda hit Cebu, the Visayan Electric Company (VECO) and the Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) have reported that they are close to restoring almost 100 percent of electricity and water supply, respectively.
VECO advised that as of 6 p.m. yesterday, they already restored 94 percent of the electricity supply for their franchise area, which is from the town of Lilo-an in the north until San Fernando in the south.
The remaining six percent that was not yet restored is equivalent to 16 megawatts of power, the advisory stated.
In Cebu City, the biggest area that did not have energy yet was barangay Busay. But as of 2 in the afternoon, VECO reported that they have restored the supply for the area.
Further, it stated that the major cause of the lack of power in certain areas is due to the damage to lateral lines and poles as a result of the typhoon.
Power supply in the cities and municipalities within VECO's franchise area were likewise stabilized after the three transmission lines of the National Grid Power Corporation were restored.
As for MCWD, based on their advisory as of 4:30 in the afternoon yesterday, they have restored 89 percent of water supply for their service area.
Out of the 200,000 cubic meters MCWD regularly produces in a day, they have so far supplied 179,000 cubic meters for households and other establishments which were cut off with water supply due to the super typhoon.
The operation of additional wells in the municipality of Liloan also improved the water supply in the said town as well as for Consolacion and part of Mandaue City.
Power restoration and leak repair is still ongoing in parts of Talisay City up to south and central areas of Cebu City.
Earlier in the day, majority of water supply was also restored in Banilad up to uptown area of Cebu City, Guadalupe, Lahug and Lapu-Lapu City.
MCWD's franchise areas include the towns of Compostela, Liloan, Consolacion and Cordova as well as the cities of Mandaue, Cebu, Lapu-Lapu and Talisay. —/ATO (FREEMAN)