Judd Block adobe wall crumbles in gales
TRI-COUNTY — High winds and a dust storm ripped through the area Tuesday knocking down power lines, leaving thousands of residents without electricity and leveling a long stretch of adobe wall at the The Block, south of the Godbold, in Marfa.
“Dangerous weather and severe storms moving across the southwest have blown over a section of the perimeter adobe wall at Donald Judd’s primary residence, the Block, in Marfa,” the Judd Foundation wrote in a statement. “While Judd Foundation had recently stabilized the most at-risk areas of the adobe wall at the Block, unforeseen high wind speeds have leveled a section bordering the property along Kelly Street.”
Dust enveloped the tri-county region, with Marfa and Alpine residents facing grimy gales and clouded skies. Visibility south of Marfa on Highway 67 was extremely low with wind speeds up to 65 mph forming walls of dust blown up from drought-stricken grasslands. Brewster County faced much of the same, including in Paisano Pass on Highway 90 to Marfa.
American Electric Power (AEP) — the utilities company that serves much of the area — reported 3,600 power outages Tuesday afternoon, most in Marfa and south to Presidio. Presidio ISD released students early because of the uncertainty of how long the outages would last, but most communities were only affected for about an hour and a half.
Downed power lines and blown transformers were also a problem with wires reported down in Marfa and Alpine. Winds slowly began to subside by late afternoon and remained calm into the evening hours. By Wednesday morning, a crew with a bulldozer was removing the debris.