Gas stations reported shortage of diesel fuel amid demands from firms running electric generators.
Clark Investors and Locators Association (CILA) President Danilo Abad said power outage hit this entire freeport at about 1 p.m. last Sunday, and that power was fully restored only last Monday night.
“The power outage caused millions of pesos in losses among investors, especially the call centers” Abad said.
He could not immediately say how much losses the investors incurred, but estimated “it is worth millions.”
Abad noted that some investors, including the Mt. Carmel Hospital and The Medical City, had their own powerful generators which cost to operate.
“The Medical City bought some 15,000 liters of diesel to operate their generators,” he said.
Abad urged the stateowned Clark Development Corp. (CDC) to consider putting electrical wires underground to prevent power outages during bad weather.
“Otherwise, it will always be like this, with so many trees around falling on power posts and lines,” he added.
Noel Tulabut, manager of the information department of the state-owned Clark Development Corp. (CDC) which runs this freeport, said that power from the Angeles Electric Corp. (AEC) was shut down throughout the freeport as a precautionary measure amid Typhoon Lando’s strong winds.
He noted that power was restored at about 6 p.m. last Sunday, but many parts of the freeport were cut off from power by trees that fell on electric posts and wires.
Powerful winds starting Sunday morning felled even centuries old trees in various parts of this freeport. Despite foul weather, however, the CDC dispatched crews to remove felled trees on roads.
Elsewhere in Pampanga, electricity was restored in many areas, even as the Pampanga Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (PDRRMC) issued a warning to folk in low laying areas, especially those in the province’s fourth and second district, to prepare for flooding as waters from flood-stricken parts of Nueva Ecija are expected to drain into the Pampanga.
