June 21, 2008 News Media Release
Austin Energy Storm Update

5:00 a.m. — Power has been restored to all customers affected by two brief but powerful storms that occurred yesterday afternoon at about 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. respectively.

Power restoration efforts overnight affecting some 50 remaining customers were made more difficult due to the location of the electric system at the back of lots rather than on the street. The last repair, just completed, required the installation of a transformer (grey box at the top of a power pole) in a back-of-lot situation. This required that crews carry in all equipment and hoist the transformer into place, without the assistance of bucket trucks.

The 2:00 p.m. storm, which hit south Austin, caused the most damage, with lines down in as many as a dozen locations and several power poles broken. That storm initially resulted in outages to as many as 7,000 customers, though power was restored in increments to about 80% of affected customers by 5:00 p.m.

Power was restored to another 1,000 customer customers by 10:00 p.m. and to all but about 40 customers by midnight. Virtually all remaining outages addressed overnight were in situations where the electric system was located at the back of lots rather than the street. A large percentage of all outages were caused by tree limbs on power lines.

Customers without power should report their outage to 322-9100.