Riviera Maya, Q.R. — A bout of rain that hit the coastal region Wednesday afternoon is being blamed for a mass power outage. Cancun and Playa del Carmen experienced a loss of electricity during an afternoon thunderstorm that rolled across the state.
According to the Federal Electricity Commission, damage to a high voltage line due to the electrical storm has been the said cause for the mass blackout. Nearly 300,000 residents and businesses were affected by the sudden loss of electricity Wednesday afternoon with the arrival of the storm.
In a statement, the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE) reported working with the National Energy Control Center (CENACE) to gradually restore power to the known 277,000 people suddenly left without. According to the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE), power was gradually restored in grids to 89,000, then 108,000 and 78,000 by the end of the day.
“CFE, in close coordination with the National Energy Control Center (CENACE), gradually restored power to affected users. With immediate work, the CFE in coordination with CENACE, gradually restored the electricity supply to affected users, as follows:
“At 16:48 Central Time, 89,694 users were recovered, representing 32% of the total number of affected users with a duration of 36 minutes.
“At 18:01 Central Time, 108,426 more users were recovered, representing 72% of the total number of affected users with a duration of 1 hour and 49 minutes.
“At 18:14 Central Time, the remaining 78,932 users were restored, representing 100% of the affected users, with a duration of 2 hours and 2 minutes.
“CFE reaffirms its commitment, in this type of contingency, to restore power supply to affected users in the shortest possible time, guaranteeing the safety of its staff and the population,” they reported in an official statement.
On Monday night, a burned CFE transformer left a central section of resident Isla Mujeres without power until Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday night, a CFE transformer that caught fire left a block of Cancun residents in the dark.
