Isla Mujeres, Q.R. — Some areas of the island of Isla Mujeres were left without power for hours Thursday night. The sudden failure in CFE service affected half of the island when the power generator exploded.
Some neighborhoods reported being left in the dark nearly four hours before the power returned. The sudden cut of electricity happened at 7:00 p.m. when islanders reported a reduction of power into their homes with dulled lights.
Moments later, the power generator exploded and sparked, leaving half of the island without electricity. Sections on the western side had their power returned within 20 minutes, however the remainder of the affected neighborhoods were not as fortunate.
According to an islander who wished to remain anonymous, they told Riviera Maya News on “Thursday night after running for 6 hours Wednesday night, it began at 5:24 p.m. At 7 it started to rain.
“A few minutes later there was a huge explosion and a fireball went over our house and into the ocean. A few minutes later, another huge explosion and another fireball—then dangerous fireworks coming from the main transformer that connects to the generator. Then the generator went dead and so did the electricity around the island (…) they took away the exploded transformer and installed a new one.”
The central area of the island was reported without power along with the La Gloria Expansion, La Gloria, Meteorological, Salina Chica, part of Salina Grande, Punta Sur area and the entire highway.
The lights began to return in some neighborhoods shortly before 8:30 p.m., although there were areas that remained in the dark until almost 11:00 p.m.
The power cut happened as the region began to experience an increase in daytime temperatures, averaging 32C. Some residents took to social media, referring to the lack of power as “the blackout season.”
The CFE spent a large portion of the winter months repairing old poles and replacing others to stabilize island power after more than a year of back-to-back failures. The hot weather and overdrawn system last year has been the said cause of the constant power outages. The CFE did not issue a statement or provide information about the interruption of service Thursday night.
