Power restored for nearly 3,000 in Fabens after outage when underground electric line was struck

FABENS, Texas -- Nearly 3,000 homes and businesses in the Fabens area were without power Thursday night after a contractor struck an underground El Paso electric line.

All traffic lights in Fabens were out due to the power loss, prompting authorities to ask residents to stay home until power was restored.

A utility spokesman said the outage was reported just before 8:30 p.m. and affected 2,900 customers. Around 9 p.m. power had been restored by utility crews to about 1,600.

As of midnight, the El Paso County Sheriff's Office reported power was completely back on and traffic lights were once again functioning for motorists.

The Fabens outage occurred about a half-hour after utility crews had restored electrical service for about 800 customers in central El Paso who suffered an outage caused by mylar balloons caught in power lines.