Power lines from a toppled power pole lay across the fence of a home near Piedra Loop and Piedra Drive Monday night. County crews and Los Alamos police used their vehicles as shields to protect motorists from driving into the downed wires, which were strewn across the roadway. Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
Heavy snow accumulation on power lines during Monday evening’s storm caused a three-phase power pole to go down near the intersection of Piedra Drive and Piedra Loop in White Rock. Power was lost at 8:40 p.m. to the western portion of White Rock including Pajarito Acres and La Senda neighborhoods.
Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
Electric linemen with the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities were able to isolate the downed power pole and restore power to properties north of La Senda by 10:30 p.m.
Working all night, linemen removed the downed pole, erected a new pole and restrung new wire.
To energize the new wiring, power was interrupted briefly at 8:45 a.m. to customers north of La Senda. Power was restored by 8:50 a.m. to all of White Rock with the exception of Piedra Loop.
Power is anticipated to be restored to Piedra Loop by 11:30 a.m. as linemen continue to work to connect the underground section of the electric distribution system to the new overhead connection.
A second power outage occurred in the Royal Crest area at 7:20 p.m. Monday. Cause was related to heavy snow accumulation on tree branches intercepting power lines. Crews cleared trees from the lines by 10 p.m. and restored power.
Photo by Carol A. Clark/ladailypost.com
A total of seven electric linemen worked straight from 7 p.m. Monday to late this morning responding to outages and assisting the fire department to remove snow accumulation on sagging communication lines.
Updates were transmitted throughout the day to the public via DPU’s Facebook page at Facebook.com/DPU1968, via 1610 AM emergency radio, and to cell phone followers of Twitter.com/#!/DPUAlerts.
The Department of Public Utilities (DPU) operates the county-owned electric, gas, water & wastewater systems under the jurisdiction of the Board of Public Utilities. The Board meets at 5:30 p.m. the third Wednesday of each month and the public is always welcome.
Stay up to date with the DPU by subscribing to the monthly Board Meeting Recap via email, at www.losalamosnm.us/Pages/Subscribe.aspx. The DPU is funded by rates paid for electric, gas, water and wastewater services and auxiliary fees, and has provided the community with these services for more than 40 years.
DPU@lacnm.us | 662.8333 or 311 | www.losalamosnm.us/UTILITIES
