Power outage affects Breckenridge, surrounding area
UPDATE: An area manager with Oncor reported at about 6 p.m. Wednesday that most of the power had been restored in the Breckenridge area following an afternoon outage.
“We had an equipment failure at one of our substations there in Breckenridge this afternoon about 2:15, which created the outage,” said Gordon Drake, area manager for Oncor. “We have crews on site that are working on that. At this current time (5:50 p.m.), we have about 95 percent of the customers back on. And, we’re going to work around the clock until we have everybody back on.”
The outage affected almost 1,100 customers, he said.
The afternoon outage was not related to the scheduled maintenance that took the power off in the area at about 2 a.m. Wednesday. The early morning outage was required in order for maintenance to be performed on a piece of equipment at the substation, Drake said. However, the afternoon outage was unplanned and caused by the failure of a different piece of equipment inside the same station, he said.
Drake said he did not have an exact time for when the customers still without power could expect restoration.
“We do have crews inside the city; they will stay there and will continue to work until we get everybody back on. A few customers that are out are still going to be out for some time. It could be later this evening; it could be another four or five hours,” he said at about 6 p.m.
Anyone who is still out of power can contact Oncor at 888-313-4747.
Original article:
A power outage affected some parts of eastern Breckenridge and the surrounding area Wednesday afternoon, Aug. 22, forcing some offices and businesses to shut down and requiring local police and fire departments to direct traffic at downtown intersections.
The outage first occurred around 2:30 p.m. and was initially predicted to be back on by 3:30. However, the downtown power was restored at about 4:15 p.m. Power to some was still out at almost 5 p.m.
According to Breckenridge Independent School District Superintendent Tim Seymore, East Elementary was the only school affected by the outage and the emergency lighting worked properly. Because the outage occurred so close to the end of the school day, classes continued as normal. However, Seymore said, if power is not restored quickly, the school district may have to deal with the food in the school’s freezers.
Seymore said he was monitoring the situation through the district’s automation system and it did not show to be on as of 4:55 p.m.
Power at the Stephens County Law Enforcement Center was kept on through generators, so the emergency services for the city were not affected.
A call to the Oncor’s Media Services department was not immediately returned, so more information about the cause of the outage is not available at this time.
As of 5:05 p.m., the Oncor Outage Map online reported 757 customers in Breckenridge still without power with an unknown time for power restoration.
Story by Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan
Cutline, top photo: Breckenridge firefighter Chad Skiles directs traffic in downtown Breckenridge during a power outage Wednesday, Aug. 22. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)
