Negros oriental: A transmission line in Negros Oriental has been affected by Severe Tropical Storm Opong, also known internationally as Bualoi. This incident adds to the earlier disruptions reported in three transmission lines within the Samar provinces by the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
According to Philippines News Agency, the NGCP's 9 a.m. report indicated that the Amlan-Siaton 69kV Line, which serves the Negros Oriental II Electric Cooperative (NORECO II), became unavailable at approximately 6:35 a.m. on Friday. This disruption is in addition to the outages of the Calbayog-Allen 69kV Line, which supplies power to the Northern Samar Electric Cooperative, Inc. (NORSAMELCO) and the Samar 1 Electric Cooperative Inc. (SAMELCO), going offline at around 1:43 a.m. The Paranas-Quinapondan 69kV Line, serving the Eastern Samar Electric Cooperative Inc., became unavailable at approximately 12:51 a.m., and the Calbayog-Bliss 69kV Line, providing power to SAMELCO 1, was impacted at around 2:31 a.m.
NGCP announced that "inspection and restoration of lines in the affected areas will be in full swing once the weather allows." The corporation further explained that the "loss of power may be caused by affected transmission facilities of NGCP or distribution facilities of local distribution utilities or electric cooperatives."
Moreover, NGCP stated, "Specific cities and municipalities affected by the power interruptions are determined by concerned Distribution Utilities, unless the outage affects the entire franchise area."
The 8 a.m. bulletin from the weather bureau reported that Opong was last estimated over the coastal waters of Mandaon, Masbate. The storm is moving west northwestward at a speed of 30 km per hour, with maximum sustained winds of 110 kph near the center and gustiness reaching up to 135 kph.
