Severe weather in Brazos County resulted in power outages for BTU customers that began Friday night around 11 and for some lasted 15 hours.
BTU reported high winds and gusts caused poles to break and lines to fall to the ground.
The longest delay was due to replacing a broken pole that was difficult to access.
And several transformers and many protective electric fuses were lost due to lightning.
Repairs to restore service to just under 3,000 thousand customers were done by BTU and contract crews.
Most of the BTU outages were in northern Brazos County.
BTU statement to WTAW News:
Scattered outages occurred across the service territory but predominantly in north Brazos County beginning around 11pm Friday and continued through Saturday morning.
At peak, just under 3,000 customers were without power.
The longest outage lasted approximately 15 hours due a broken pole that was difficult to access.
Several transformers and many protective fuses were lost due to lightning. Additionally, high winds and wind gusts caused trees and tree limbs to break or blow into lines. Winds also caused poles to break and some power lines to fall to the ground.
Some of the poles were difficult to access, requiring the use of special track equipment available from a BTU contractor.
Per state law, and for the safety of BTU crews, emergency locates must be called in prior to any digging to change poles. (Typical response time once locates are requested is 2-4 hours.)
Numerous BTU and contract crews responded Friday night and into Saturday.
Prioritization of restoration efforts typically focuses on restoring outages impacting the largest numbers of customers.