2,300 households in northern Aurora still have no power

CASIGURAN, Auror , Philippines  â€“ Some 2,300 households in two municipalities in northern Aurora still have no electricity almost two months since Typhoon Labuyo brought havoc in northeast Luzon.

Noel Vedad, general manager of the Aurora Electric Cooperative (Aurelco), said the households, which they service, comprise about 30 percent of 7,938 households which lost electricity when strong winds brought by Labuyo toppled 324 electric posts and broke 214 others here and in Dinalungan and Dilasag towns and in Dinapigue town in Isabela.

The damage was estimated at P10 million.

Vedad though said they expect power to be restored in Dinalungan and Dilasag by next week, as a four-man Aurelco crew has been working on the damaged lines.

Households in this town, totaling 4,188, have been enjoying 24-hour electricity since last month, along with households in Barangay Nipoo in Dinalungan. 

Vedad said the National Electrification Administration released on Thursday P10.7 million to restore the remaining damaged power lines.

Earlier, rural electric cooperatives (RECs) in Central Luzon had formed a task force to help Aurelco restore electricity by rehabilitating 538 damaged poles in the three northern towns.

The RECs, which belong to the Central Luzon Electric Cooperatives Association, created Task Force Labuyo – composed of 60 foremen and linemen equipped with 11 boom trucks – and dispatched it to the northern Aurora towns of Dinalungan, Casiguran and Dilasag, also known as the Dicadi area. 

The Dicadi area was one of those hardest-hit by Labuyo, which left in its wake three persons dead and over P500 million worth of properties, infrastructure and crops destroyed. The typhoon also affected 12,000 families in Aurora alone.

For days, the Dicadi area was isolated due to landslides, the swelling of rivers, and toppled communication lines.