21 Oct Power Line Sparks Grass Fire on Padre Island as Thousands Lose Power

A power line arced and set off a grass fire on North Padre Island on Wednesday, according to Nueces County Emergency Services District No. 2.

It started near Park Road 22 and Access Road 4. Crews from the district and the Corpus Christi Fire Department kept it from spreading, and no one was hurt. No structures were damaged, and officials said no buildings were threatened.

Around the same time, thousands of island residents lost power. AEP Texas’ online outage map listed about 2,367 customers affected shortly after noon and gave the cause as weather-related. By 2:40 p.m., the outages had cleared from the map.

Officials have not said whether the arcing line caused the outages. The district had warned of possible interruptions through about 3 p.m.