ASSESSING VULNERABILITIES AND COSTS OF POWER OUTAGES TO EXTREME FLOODS IN SURIGAO CITY, PHILIPPINES

Abstract

Surigao city is a coastal community located in the north eastern part of the county. It is vulnerable to rain-induced floods and storm surges. Although direct flood damage to electrical infrastructure is rare, power outages are applied to prevent electrocution in communities. In this regard, the authors investigated several local districts in Surigao city to observe the vulnerability of households to power outages caused by flood events. This information will help the local network operator, Surigao del Norte Electric Cooperative (SURNECO), reduce power interruption and inconvenience. This study simulates flood events of 5,10,25 and 50-year 24-hour rainfall-flood event against a backdrop of an electrical distribution network and geotagged households in four urban coastal barangays. Results show that the estimated power loss for two (2) days is about US$ 8000 per day of outage. The depth and velocity (d-v) product also shows that about 22% of the households are affected specifically for a 50-year 24-hour rainfall-flood event. The cost model based on a two-day power loss duration analysis shows that the loss range is from US$7,781 to US$8,676 for the different return periods. The household survey also shows that the average inconvenience loss is about US$ 11/hour.