SAN ANTONIO – Families at a Northwest Side apartment complex spent days without electricity over the weekend.
Temperatures were already high as San Antonio set a February record for heat just days before the power went out at The Fredd townhomes.
One resident shared a cellphone video showing how dark their unit was, saying she’d been without electricity for two days.
“They’re sleeping everywhere with windows open,” the woman who did not want to be identified said about her neighbors. “I saw some outside on chairs asleep.”
Another resident, Tre, said he had no idea why the power was out.
“It’s been hot. We ain’t been had no lights since Saturday,” Tre said.
At first, some residents thought the problem was the transformers and was related to CPS Energy.
“We thought it was those transformers over there,” Ray said. “I called CPS. They came and took a look at it. So, it was just all this side that blew,” he said, referring to one section of the complex.
Ray said power was restored to about half of the affected buildings after one day, but that others remained without electricity from Saturday to Monday afternoon.
CPS Energy told KSAT that they don’t have a record of any outage at the address of The Fredd Townhomes. One resident told KSAT that CPS Energy told her there was no issue on their side and that it was an issue with the property’s generator.
The heat and darkness took an emotional toll on her family.
“One of my sons has autism, so he’s like terrified of the dark,” the woman said.
Tre said the outage made even basic tasks difficult.
“Charging the phones and everything,” Tre said. “It’s been a hard three days.”
As residents gathered outside and spoke about being without power for roughly 48 hours, a work crew arrived at the property to install generators. One of the workers said he got the call to go to the site just before 4:30 p.m. on Monday.
“We see we got the generator still now, but we got food in there,” Tre said.
Another resident said her family had stocked up just before the outage.
“We had just gone grocery shopping, so our freezer is full,” the woman said. ”Our fridge is full, and all that food, you can smell it, it’s spoiled.”
She estimated the loss at more than $200.
“Everybody whose electricity has been off, they should at least find a way to help some of us replenish this food, especially the people with the kids,” the woman said.
A property manager told the KSAT crew to leave the property shortly after the electricians arrived to set up generators.
The day after this story ran and more than 24 hours after KSAT reached out for comment, a spokesperson for the apartment said it was caused by an underground electrical issue and that service had been “substantially restored.”
Read the full statement below:
On February 28, several buildings at The Fredd experienced a temporary power interruption related to an underground electrical issue. There were no reported injuries.
Management promptly engaged licensed professionals to address the matter, and service has been substantially restored. Restoration efforts remain underway as we work to complete repairs safely and efficiently. We are communicating directly with residents and providing updates as work progresses.
Apartment spokesperson
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