Power fully restored after major outage on Southside, crews working to fix transformer destroyed in fire

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — UPDATE: As of 7:50 a.m. Thursday, all 14,600 customers affected by the outage on the south side of Corpus Christi had their power restored according to the AEP Texas Facebook page.

AEP Texas is currently working to restore power to a large area in Corpus Christi's southside after a fire broke out Wednesday evat their Rodd Field Road substation.

According to AEP Texas, the power outage first affected 14,000 customers in the surrounding area.  AEP gave their last Wednesday update at 10 p.m. that only 4,900 customers are still affected. AEP crews aim to restore power to all customers by midnight. 

"The damage to the Rodd Field Substation was major, and we are still assessing the extent of the damage, but we have begun the process of executing our plan to restore power to as many customers as possible by this Wednesday evening," said Dan Boezio, AEP Texas vice president of Transmission Field Services. "Depending on the load capacity to some circuits, some customers may be out longer than others until the final repairs are made."

According to Boezio, AEP crews at the station would work throughout the night to repair the damage.

The Corpus Christi Police Department placed mobile stop signs at all major intersections. Drivers should expect delays while they are in the area. 

The Corpus Christi Independent School District reported at 3 p.m. that southside campuses affected by the outage have closed for the day.

The nearby Turf Sports Complex Facebook page posted footage shot by Christian Johnson of a fire at the corner of Yorktown and Cimarron, stating that power is out throughout the southside and that their summer program will be affected.

The South Texas Botanical Gardens and Nature Center also reported that they will be closing due to the power outage. The Dr. Clotilde P. Garcia Public Library located at 5930 Brockhampton Street will be temporarily closed due to the power outage 

AEP said that several customers could have their power restored by early evening Wednesday, while some customers should prepare for an extended outage lasting possibly until late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. 

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