Manila Bulletin Online, September 18, 2005

Aurora Hit by Blackout;
Bongabon-Baler Road Remains Closed

Aurora's woes continue to worsen as heavy rains continued to plague the province.

The province continues to be isolated from the rest of Luzon as six-feet of water has submerged a portion of the Bongabon-Baler Road since late last week due to heavy rains which overflowed the Villa River. As a result, commerce has stopped in Baler and in the rest of Aurora as cargo truck bearing much-needed food items, supplies, medicine and other commercial goods are unable to slog through the submerged road.

The BBR has been an alternate route for those bound for Baler after the 40-year old Villa Bridge was washed away by mudslides late last year by a series of powerful typhoons that hit Aurora.

To add to the troubles, landslides have downed several electric posts of the Aurora Electric Cooperative (Aurelco) which plunged the province into utter darkness.

Due to the power shutdown, communication to and fro the province has been almost non-existent.