Hot air balloon bumps power line and causes outages for over 12,000 customers

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A hot air balloon bumped into a power line and caused outages that impacted over 12,000 PNM customers Monday morning in Albuquerque.

A spokesperson for PNM confirmed this to KOB 4. According to the spokesperson, the balloon bumped a power transmission line near Claremont and Stanford. Thankfully, it didn’t crash, didn’t get stuck and later landed.

However, because the balloon hit a transmission line that sends power to substations and the secondary lines, a massive outage ensued. PNM’s outage map showed 16 outages and 12,730 customers affected, as of 9 a.m. Monday. The outages extended as far north as Second and Osuna, as far south as near Second and Mountain, as far east as Menaul and Carlisle and as far west as Montaño and the Rio Grande.

We will keep you posted with updates on KOB.com and KOB 4 Eyewitness news.