Power outage in Marble Falls delays classes, closes H-E-B
Grocery carts in front of the automatic sliding doors at H-E-B in Marble Falls kept shoppers at bay until the store's electricity and internet services were restored the morning of Oct. 25. A storm knocked out power for about 700 Pedernales Electric Cooperative members in Marble Falls. Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman
High winds and a thunderstorm blew through the Highland Lakes early Tuesday morning, Oct. 25, knocking out power for about 700 members of the Pedernales Electric Cooperative in Marble Falls. The outage forced a two-hour delay for some Marble Falls Independent School District campuses and closed the McDonald’s restaurant and H-E-B grocery store for several hours.
H-E-B and McDonald’s are neighbors on RR 1431. Marble Falls Middle School is directly behind both on Pony Drive.
Classes were delayed for the middle school, Falls Career High School/EPIC, and Marble Falls Elementary School.
At H-E-B, staff used grocery carts to block the store’s automatic sliding doors, which did not work without power. By 9 a.m., the parking lot was mostly empty, although the gas pumps were working.
According to two H-E-B employees, the power came back on after a few hours, but internet service did not recover so quickly, knocking out systems used to ring up groceries at checkout counters.
McDonald’s was closed for about three hours until everything was brought back online, according to an employee.
The Marble Falls outage occurred at 4:42 a.m. Tuesday, and power was restored at 6:03 a.m., according to PEC.
“Overnight, crews responded to several outages across the co-op resulting from high winds and lightning,” a PEC spokesperson said. “Overall, our system performed well, and our crews worked throughout the night to restore power as quickly and safely as possible to our members.”