Area Winds Wreaked Havoc Across The Basin Monday
By: Matthew Farrell
Updated: February 25, 2013
WEST TEXAS -- The winds Monday could have taken you off your feet.
They also made area roads a bit more interesting for travel and hundreds of homes a bit more dark.
Between road closures and power outages, the winds made life more difficult around the Permian Basin.
Winds whipped through the Permian Basin on Monday.
Gusts topped out at 60 miles per hour in Midland, blowing debris and causing major problems on area roads.
"We've had different amounts of road closures throughout the day and as things would fall into the road, we would try to clean them up as soon as possible and get it back open, but we've had about a dozen or so off and on," Eric Johnson with the City of Midland Transportation Division told Big 2.
Some of the more high profile closures were Big Spring near Front, Texas ave. through downtown and FM 1788 south of State Highway 349.
The winds also brought down street signs across the area.
Some directional signs were sheered off of stop signs throughout the Basin, very heavy objects that indicate just how strong those winds were.
"They like to fall down in the wind also, but we would send out crews to pick them up when they fell and replace them," Johnson said.
Johnson said this is one of the stronger wind storms he's seen in Midland.
Those winds were blowing around trees, poles, even trampolines were getting into the act.
The strong gusts also brought down power lines.
At the worst moments, more than 1300 customers in Midland and nearly 500 customers in Odessa were in the dark.
Oncor crews were hard at work all day restoring power, working late trying to bring power back online to area homes and businesses.
Average response times were around 4-6 hours to repair those downed power lines.
They also made area roads a bit more interesting for travel and hundreds of homes a bit more dark.
Between road closures and power outages, the winds made life more difficult around the Permian Basin.
Winds whipped through the Permian Basin on Monday.
Gusts topped out at 60 miles per hour in Midland, blowing debris and causing major problems on area roads.
"We've had different amounts of road closures throughout the day and as things would fall into the road, we would try to clean them up as soon as possible and get it back open, but we've had about a dozen or so off and on," Eric Johnson with the City of Midland Transportation Division told Big 2.
Some of the more high profile closures were Big Spring near Front, Texas ave. through downtown and FM 1788 south of State Highway 349.
The winds also brought down street signs across the area.
Some directional signs were sheered off of stop signs throughout the Basin, very heavy objects that indicate just how strong those winds were.
"They like to fall down in the wind also, but we would send out crews to pick them up when they fell and replace them," Johnson said.
Johnson said this is one of the stronger wind storms he's seen in Midland.
Those winds were blowing around trees, poles, even trampolines were getting into the act.
The strong gusts also brought down power lines.
At the worst moments, more than 1300 customers in Midland and nearly 500 customers in Odessa were in the dark.
Oncor crews were hard at work all day restoring power, working late trying to bring power back online to area homes and businesses.
Average response times were around 4-6 hours to repair those downed power lines.
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