Rainstorms rolling through the Borderland on Monday night knocked out power to nearly 800 El Paso Electric customers across El Paso and New Mexico, with the utility's outage map showing 51 separate trouble spots as crews scrambled to get the lights back on.
As of 9:50 p.m., El Paso Electric's outage map listed 51 outages affecting 777 customers across the region, according to CBS4 Local. The outage map estimated restoration by 1:30 a.m., though it wasn't immediately clear whether that timeline applied to every affected customer or only part of the outage count. KFOX reported on the developing situation as rain continued to move through the area overnight.
The outages hit as rainstorms continued to pound the Borderland Monday, the same report noted. It's the latest in a string of weather-driven power disruptions that have hit El Paso Electric customers in recent weeks, with Monday's numbers notably smaller than some of the outages the utility has logged this fall.
A Pattern of Storm-Driven Outages This Fall
Just three days earlier, on October 16, more than 9,600 El Paso Electric customers were without power as of 6 a.m. after powerful winds swept through the Borderland overnight, according to the El Paso Times. That round of outages was reported throughout the city, though West El Paso appeared to be hit hardest. Many of those disruptions began in the early morning hours, with electricity expected to be restored by noon that Friday, the paper reported. During that same windstorm, the National Weather Service urged residents to secure loose outdoor items and use caution while traveling.
Before that, on September 29, nearly 4,403 customers in Northeast El Paso lost power amid heavy rain, per the outage map cited by KFOX14. That day's map showed 29 outages across the Borderland, with an estimated restoration time of 7:45 p.m. El Paso Electric said at the time that the outages were weather-related and that it had activated an incident response plan, adding that crews were assigned and working to restore service as safely and efficiently as possible.
September Storm Left Thousands in the Dark
The most severe recent event came on September 16, when severe weather including lightning and torrential rainfall triggered widespread outages across El Paso. Accounts of the scale of that storm vary: KFOX14 reported that as of 8:20 p.m., approximately 8,242 customers were without power across 40 outage locations, but by 9:25 p.m. that figure had climbed to 10,994 customers across 56 outage locations spanning El Paso and Las Cruces. A separate report from KTSM put the 9:25 p.m. figure at about 10,994 customers across 55 outages, a count that aligns closely but not precisely with KFOX14's tally. KTSM also noted that more outages were possible as the storms continued moving through the area that night.
Monday's outage count of 777 customers is far smaller than the thousands affected in both the September 16 and October 16 storms, though the disruption still left hundreds of Borderland households and businesses without electricity as rain continued falling across the region. El Paso Electric's outage map remains the primary source tracking real-time restoration progress for customers checking on their service status.
This remains a developing story, and further details on the extent of Monday night's outages and restoration progress were not immediately available.
