Then, Troyo was part of a team tasked to shut down the plant as a preemptive measure. He had not expected just how destructive Haiyan would prove to the plant, as well as to the larger Leyte province in the Eastern Visayas region of the Philippines, where the facility is located.
The devastation from Typhoon Haiyan took over 6,000 lives and incurred more than US$15 billion in damages. In the power sector, the country's largest electricity distributor reported that the tropical storm toppled over more than 560 transmission towers.
"Haiyan was the first time we faced a typhoon that strong," Troyo told Eco-Business in Tagalog, in an interview to share about post-disaster rehabilitation efforts for the plant and its workforce. "When we returned, we saw that the roof had collapsed, and most of our equipment had been rained on."
Troyo, who has 32 years of experience working on the Tongonan site, and is now the facility's head and chief of operations, said he is thankful that his wife and child - who were based in Ormoc, Leyte with him at the time when the typhoon struck - survived the ordeal.
Click here to read the original article By Rhick Lars Albay in Eco Business.
