CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — AEP Texas spent the weekend addressing a broken power line leaning over the westbound side of the JFK Causeway.
AEP Texas and the Texas Department of Transportation responded to the incident on Saturday. Officials with AEP told 3NEWS Monday they were replacing the broken pole with two new ones.
Most work finished Monday, but additional work in the water will be finished Tuesday morning. All lanes on the JFK Causeway were reopened on Tuesday morning.
According to AEP, the damaged pole did not cause power outages some experienced between Flour Bluff and Padre Island on Saturday. However, a temporary shut down during initial repairs left hundreds without power for about 30 minutes Saturday evening.
AEP Texas said they turned off power on the affected section of the JFK Causeway Saturday evening, affecting about 805 customers. Omar Lopez, Corporate Communications Manager for AEP said the company worked with TxDOT and contractors to close the westbound right lane.
"It snapped at the base. So, it was still held together by the cables and the wire, but it was leaning over the right lane of that JFK Causeway," he said.
Lopez added that the right lane will remain closed until the broken pole is replaced and crews clear the area. He said repair efforts on Sunday were extensive.
"We had to use four pontoon boats to go to the pole via the water side, plus about three or four bucket trucks and augers on the Causeway to set a new pole in the water while keeping that old pole, keeping it braced so the roadway would be safe," he said.
Red Dot Pier, located across the causeway where the pole broke, is directly in the area without power. Ed Salazar's wife owns the business and has worked there for six years. He was grateful AEP brought a generator for them to use while repairs shut down the power line.
"[AEP Texas] came in and said they're going to interrupt our service. [They asked,] 'Do you have a generator?' First question, 'Do you have a generator?' I said, 'Ya, but it's about this big and it only does the minimal.' He says, 'Don't worry, we're going to bring you one," Salazar said.
Salazar added that they have a smaller generator to use since their power does go out sometimes, but it's not enough for them to stay in operation. The large one AEP brought over the weekend will keep them covered.
"If power goes down, we lose a lot of product. We lose the live product and we lose the frozen product. So, it's essential that we have power and so far, we, we're very happy," he said.
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