By Lisa Morton
A severe storm in the Van Horn area early Tuesday morning, resulted in a power outage that was more than inconvenient to local residents.
El Paso Electric Public Affairs Representative George De La Torre, informed The Advocate that the storm caused damage to a structure that provides electricity to the area. The outage, which occurred around 2:30 a.m. lasted until 6:25 a.m. after all necessary repairs were made.
Pilot Truck Stop reported damage to an electronic component that pumps fuel resulting in lost sales until the part was replaced around 11:00 a.m. Plateau Truck Stop East of Van Horn, had it worse with complete electrical service loss that shut down their business for approximately 7 hours. Culberson County Hospital reported that their CT (Cat Scan) equipment was knocked out of service twice due to power surges at the time.
Sheriff Oscar Carrillo said the biggest concern with these outages is when local 911 calls get rerouted to neighboring counties who are less familiar with this service area. “We still use the old school descriptions when it helps responders, so it becomes a challenge”, the Sheriff said.
