Austin Energy reports full restoration after May 28 microburst; estimates $6.5 million in immediate costs

Interim General Manager Stuart Riley told the Austin Energy Utility Oversight Committee on May 28 that Austin Energy restored power to all customers after a microburst storm that struck the city on the evening of May 28.

Riley said the event produced a rapid spike in outages — a peak of about 72,500 customers were without power at one time — and that 124,000 unique customers were without power at some point during the restoration. "We had 91 power poles that we replaced, 52 transformers, 32,000 feet of overhead cable," Riley said. He added that Austin Energy, contract crews, and mutual aid providers put nearly 1,000 people into the field during the response and that initial response costs are estimated at $6,500,000, a number he said is likely to rise as mutual aid invoices are finalized.

The storm brought short, intense rainfall, hail, high winds and lightning concentrated in a west-to-east band across Austin, Riley said. He described…