Rolly closed 17 roads, cut power supply in Catanduanes and over 53k other households — officials

At least 17 roads are non-passable while Catanduanes province and over 53,000 households in parts of Luzon have no electricity so far amid the onslaught of Super Typhoon Rolly over the weekend, officials said Monday.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar and Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi made the report during the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council briefing.

Villar said the 17 road closures include: two in Cordillera Administrative Region, two in Region 3, one in Region 4A, and 12 in Region 5.

“These are due to fallen trees, fallen electric posts, landslides and flooding. We have already deployed personnel for road clearing operations,” Villar said.

Prior to Rolly’s devastation on Sunday morning that sent thousands of people fleeing and devastating largely the Bicol Region, Villar said the DPWH has pre-positioned 777 heavy equipment vehicles, 518 tools and 4,931 personnel.

“Wala pong tigil ang road clearing operations natin and we also be assessing damage to government infrastructure,” Villar said. 

Power outage 

For his part, Cusi said 53,863 households in Regions 4A, Region 3 and Region 5 are experiencing power outage due to Rolly, a figure that excludes Catanduanes province where there is no electricity.

“Industry players are already doing everything they can to bring the power back as soon as possible,” Cusi said.

Likewise, Cusi said Rolly affected 2,776 megawatts of power stations in Luzon, majority of which are in Catanduanes, Camarines Norte and Camarines Sur.

Transmission lines were also affected in Camarines Sur, Camarines Norte, Albay and Sorsogon, while Rolly affected operations of 45 electric cooperatives in eight regions, 11 of which are already non-operational so far.

Cusi, however, gave assurance that there is enough supply of petroleum products in affected areas.

“We have 22 days worth of petroleum supplies,” Cusi added. — RSJ, GMA News