On Thursday, March 13, Amarillo Service Center operations manager, Joe Brett Jackson, and his crew set out to prepare power lines and equipment for extreme weather. Though skies were blue, the team of meteorologists at Xcel Energy had their sights set on Friday, when high winds, low relative humidity and dry ground conditions threatened to drastically increase the risk of wildfire.
“We have all available crews on standby right now,” said Jackson. “They’ll work throughout the weekend until we get everything back to normal.”
As part of the preparations for a historic windstorm that swept through eastern New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle and the South Plains region on Friday, March 14, Xcel Energy activated a Public Safety Power Shutoff, or PSPS, to proactively reduce the risk of wildfires and protect public safety. The shutoffs began about 9 a.m. on Friday.
By 10 a.m., winds had picked up dramatically, peaking at 80 miles per hour, the highest wind speeds in Amarillo since an F4 tornado in 1949. By midafternoon, the intense storm had caused more than 68,000 customers to lose power, including 17,000 involved in the PSPS.
Xcel Energy crews started to patrol power lines and repair damage as soon as wind speeds decreased enough for restoration efforts to safely begin, prioritizing medical customers, hospitals and community resources. Lineworkers traveled from Colorado to speed restoration times, and drone pilots came from across the country to join helicopter crews in inspecting lines in more remote locations and rugged terrain.
The storm caused significant damage to power infrastructure, prompting crews to replace nearly 20,000 feet of wire, 140 power poles, about 340 pole cross arms and nearly 50 transformers. Working around the clock, crews were able to restore power to nearly all 68,000 customers by Monday morning.
“We’ve got people that are monitoring the situation 24/7, 365 days a year,” said Adrian Rodriguez, president, Xcel Energy—Texas and New Mexico. “The weather doesn’t stop and neither do our teams.”
Before the winds picked back up on Tuesday, Xcel Energy enacted another PSPS, impacting 1,100 customers. In the following hours, winds exceeding 70 miles per hour caused over 30,000 outages. By Wednesday afternoon, crews had restored power to almost all of those customers.
If a PSPS becomes necessary, Xcel Energy will attempt to contact customers directly and provide updates on its PSPS Event website and Wildfire Preparedness page. As grasses and brush continue to green up across our Texas and New Mexico service areas, and as weather patterns change, wildfire risks should decrease along with the potential need for electric service interruptions.
“This company has been in this area for over 100 years,” said Rodriguez. “We’re going to continue serving our customers for the next 100 years because of the dedication our teams have – keeping the power going to our customers but making sure we keep them safe as well.”
