A semi-truck tore down four utility poles on Paseo de Los Álamos in Tijuana’s El Refugio neighborhood Wednesday morning, knocking out electricity and internet service for hundreds of homes and dozens of businesses. No injuries were reported, but a concrete CFE (Federal Electricity Commission) pole crashed into the street, damaging four parked cars and collapsing a roadside burrito stand.
Witnesses told local media that low-hanging Telnor cables snagged the trailer’s box as it passed through the intersection with Avenida Eucalipto. The cables were reportedly strung below the 5.5-meter (about 18-foot) minimum clearance required by federal transport regulations, a recurring hazard on streets near the Tijuana-Tecate highway corridor that carry heavy freight traffic.
University Suspends Classes as Heat Soars
The outage rippled well beyond the immediate block. The Universidad Tecnológica de Tijuana (UTT) suspended in-person afternoon classes because the power loss disabled air conditioning during 30°C (86°F) heat and shut down projectors and laptop charging stations. UTT shifted to virtual instruction for the rest of the day and pushed its incoming-student application portal deadline to Thursday, May 21.
CFE crews arrived and began rerouting power through a parallel line around 2:40 p.m., with full repairs expected within roughly two hours. Internet service through Telnor, the regional telecom subsidiary, was also disrupted, though no timeline for its restoration was immediately available.
A Familiar Problem on Tijuana Streets
The incident follows a pattern of pole collapses in the city. In August 2024, three wooden CFE poles fell in the Playas de Tijuana area, triggering widespread outages and public criticism of aging infrastructure. At that time, Tijuana City Council member Gina Arana proposed a collaboration agreement between telecom companies and CFE to remove outdated poles and tangled wiring that pose safety risks.
El Refugio sits in eastern Tijuana, close to major freight routes connecting the border city to Tecate, about 55 kilometers to the east. Trucks servicing maquiladora plants and cross-border supply chains regularly travel through residential streets in the area, raising the stakes for proper cable clearances.
This story was first reported by Punto Norte and confirmed by Diario Tijuana.