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A power outage about 5 p.m. left parts of Las Cruces in the dark Monday and caused traffic jams at various intersections, including this one at Spruce Avenue and Triviz Drive, when the traffic lights went out. Police advise motorists to treat non-functioning traffic signals as a four-way stops until lights are again working properly.

LAS CRUCES - Some 2,200 customers of El Paso Electric Co. - including the Las Cruces Police Department - were without power in the downtown area Monday evening, thanks to Mylar balloons, an electric company official said.

"Apparently somebody let some Mylar balloons loose by the cemetery, and they got into our lines," said company spokeswoman Teresa Souza. "It messes with the current."

Souza said crews were working to restore power.

The outage was reported around 5:05 p.m. and affected some major traffic signals in the city, just as the daily drive home began. Lohman Avenue-Telshor Boulevard was among them. A number of traffic signals along Amador and Lohman avenues, too, were impacted.

Even so, emergency services such as the Mesilla Valley Regional Dispatch Authority - the 911 call center - the Las Cruces police and fire departments, and other first responders were still able to communicate and were functioning normally, according to a city news release.

The outage affected part of an electrical grid in downtown Las Cruces that made it through the cold-induced, rolling outages of two weeks ago without a single outage.

LCPD reminded drivers to treat non-functioning traffic signals as a four-way stop and use extreme caution, especially passing through intersections.


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