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ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 26 Jan) – Almost all of this city experienced power outage for almost an hour and a half Wednesday morning because a snake climbed up an electrical pole and got electrocuted, tripping the 69-kilovolt line supplying electricity to Iligan.
Elizabeth Ladaga, community relations specialist of the National Grid Corporation of Philippines (NGCP) based at its Mindanao Regional Office here, said the unscheduled power interruption starting 9:11 a.m. affected the whole of Iligan City.
Engr. Keenan M. Erigbuagas, unit head of Power Supply and Key Accounts at the Iligan Light and Power, Inc. (ILPI), said the blackout affected 61,000 clients.
Electricity was restored around 10:45 a.m.
Ladaga said the power outage occurred along the Agus 6-Mapalad 69KV line.
An engineer at NGCP who asked not to be identified said a two-meter snake climbed up a steel electrical pole somewhere in Barangay Sta. Elena and got electrocuted, tripping the line.
“Its body was cut into two as it fell into the ground,” said the engineer. NGCP workers were no longer able to identify the kind of snake that caused Iliganons trouble.
The outage caused uproar among residents as they experienced another unannounced power outage only 10 days ago, reportedly because lightning struck one of NGCP’s facilities.
The January 16 blackout started 6:45 p.m. and lasted until 10:28 p.m., when residents were supposed to be relaxing at home on a Sunday evening. (Richel V. Umel / MindaNews)
