High winds likely the cause of Clovis power outages

High winds are "most likely" the cause of power outages in the Clovis area Wednesday.

Steady winds of up to 40 mph with gusts over 50 mph were reported by the Clovis automated weather center at the Clovis airport Wednesday.

Xcel Energy Electric Outage Map pinpointed outages in the Clovis area affecting customers. The company reported outages in the Amarillo area as well.

Xcel Spokesman Wes Reeves said in a statement, "We experienced a fault on a transmission line feeding east Clovis at 2:41 p.m. that interrupted service to 4,655 customers served by East Clovis Substation."

Reeves said power was restored to those customers at 3:52 p.m. by rerouting power through neighboring substations.

"A line patrol revealed a damaged transmission structure east of East Clovis Substation, and repair work is ongoing," Reeves said.

Reeves added once the work is done, East Clovis Substation will be able to fully serve the customers affected by the afternoon outage.

Curry County Manager Lance Pyle announced the closure of the county office annex for the rest of Wednesday at 417 Gidding St. at about 3:15 p.m. due to a power outage.

"Xcel is doing a great job of fixing outages," Clovis Emergency Management Director Dan Heerding said.