‘TERRIFYING’

Storm Traps 200 People on New Mexico Mountain Peak for SEVEN Hours

One passenger said as soon as the tram made it to the peak, employees began yelling for everyone to get inside to avoid the lightning.

Lightning struck a power line Sunday night, knocking out power to tram cars and stranding more than 200 people at the top of the Sandia Mountains in New Mexico for over seven hours. “It’s terrifying to feel like your options of getting down are so minimal,” passenger Roxanne Scheuer, told KRQE. She said as soon as her tram made it to the peak, tram workers began yelling at everyone to get inside to avoid the lightning. The power outage prevented any tram cars from going up or down. After four hours, shuttle buses were able to take some people back to the Albuquerque. But Scheuer said she wasn’t able to make it down until the trams started working again after seven hours. The 45-minute ride back down was frightening, too. “Every time a lightning struck, and you heard it, people would get scared and gasp or feel terrified like what’s next,” Scheuer said. The tram company did not offer refunds at the end of the harrowing ordeal.