UPDATE: Power restored at EPCC Valle Verde campus

A power outage forced El Paso Community College to close its Valle Verde campus.

The outage happened Wednesday afternoon. Power was restored late Thursday evening. Students and staff have been notified through the College’s Tejano Alert Emergency System. Classes, student services and offices at the other EPCC campuses were not affected.

“We experienced a fault in our electrical system which basically meant a short. In layman’s terms it knocked power out from El Paso Electric,” said Rick Lobato, executive director of physical plant.

El Paso Electric workers were called to the campus, but it was discovered the fault in the electrical system occurred in the school’s secondary system.

Lobato said the large campus and large number of buried lines meant repairs took some time.

“We finally have been able to figure out and track it down to what might be a fault in one of our underground cables. We are going to try and isolate that tonight, and see if we can reset everything and get the power back up,” Lobato said.

Student Mary Helen Ceballos showed us for her computer class and was caught off-guard by the deserted campus.

“Yeah, it’s empty out here. I’m like OK, what’s going on?” Ceballos said.

EPCC’s Chief of Police, Jose Ramirez, said extra officers would be on the Valle Verde campus until power is restored.

“The buildings are secured. We are making sure that nobody is in them, that no one is locked in. We are making sure that nothing occurs in the parking lots. (We are making sure) if people do get here, that they are safe and they are secure,” Ramirez said.

It’s unclear exactly what caused the power outage, but Laboto has a theory.

“Over the years, because metal expands and contracts they rub on one another, and the insulation rubs off. And this campus is about 25, 30 years old. So we have had a few years on it.”

“We are kind of used to dealing with all kinds of emergencies. So, we are ready. We are prepared,” Ramirez said.