August 11th, 2010
Electric Utility restores power after outage

SUBMITTED REPORT

The City of San Marcos Electric Utility Division restored power to the hospital, police department, major businesses and about 800 residences along Wonder World Drive and Interstate 35 after an underground power line cut tripped the Redwood Substation around 12:28 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.

Affected areas and businesses included Central Texas Medical Center, Police Headquarters, Thermon, Mensor, Cedars and Pallazo Apartments, Gunnarson Advertising, San Marcos Daily Record, Dealers Electric/Texas Avenue, the Hays County Government Complex construction site, and Frost Bank on Wonder World Drive.

Electric crews restored power by 2:40 p.m. to all affected businesses and residences except the Hays County Government Complex construction site on Stagecoach Trail.

Construction crews working on the Hays County construction site were boring underneath Stagecoach Trail for installation of a gas line when they contacted and cut an underground 3-phase primary line, causing the line to trip out all the way back to the Redwood Substation.

Electric crews are currently working to install new wire and conduit and will have the construction site re-energized on Wednesday evening, according to Kyle Dicke, Assistant Director of Public Services.

CTMC and the Police Department have backup generators that are activated during power failures. Emergency 911 service at SMPD was not affected by the outage.

— FROM THE CITY OF SAN MARCOS/MELISSA MILLECAM