Lightning streaks over Batangas as Taal Volcano continues to push up a giant ash and steam cloud on Sunday evening. Residents of towns near Taal Volcano are being taken to safer grounds, disaster officials said. Domcar Lagto, ABS-CBN News

MANILA - Parts of the provinces of Laguna and Cavite experienced brownouts on Sunday evening as ashfall from Taal volcano's steam and ash explosion affected power lines.

"The ash fall from Taal Volcano has affected our lines in Cavite and Laguna causing brownouts," Meralco said in a statement posted on its official Facebook page.

The power distributor said it is working to restore power in these areas as soon as possible.

The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines meanwhile said 72 megawatts of load from Meralco was dropped as ashfall caused the outage of three 500-kilovolt and two 230-kilovolt lines.

"NGCP is implementing contingency measures as it continues monitoring the effects of the volcanic activity of Taal Volcano to transmission facilities," the grid operator said in a statement.

The NGCP said it will mobilize line crews to inspect the lines and clean critical line equipment "as soon as the situation is deemed safe."

The state seismology bureau raised alert level 4 over Taal Volcano on Sunday night after the volcanic island spewed a giant column of steam and ash.

Taal volcano's heightened activity has also forced airport authorities to ground flights amid safety concerns.