Heatwave Causes Power Outages In OC: Seal Beach

SEAL BEACH, CA — Power outages continued into Monday in the areas of Mission Viejo, Lake Forest and Tustin, according to a Southern California Edison spokesperson. Some 161 customers in Orange County remained without power late Sunday as Southern California Edison urged its customers to do whatever they could to reduce pressure on the system. Residents were advised to keep thermostats at 78 or above, to conduct a judicious use of air conditioning and use of drapes, curtains and blinds to keep sunlight and heat out of rooms.

Planned outages were scheduled later in the day for Seal Beach, Laguna Beach and Costa Mesa for upgrades to equipment and lines in a continued improvement of the county's aging power grid.

Further north, power could remain out for another 24 to 48 hours for more than 26,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power accounts blacked out by staggering heat this weekend, officials said Sunday.

And as temperatures again topped 100 degrees in some parts of the San Fernando Valley, the DWP said people who suffer blackouts Sunday may have to wait a day or two for their power to be restored.

Overloaded distribution stations, overheated or overtaxed underground and above-surface lines, and other large equipment failed Friday, when various parts of Los Angeles hit all-time temperature records. It was 117 at Van Nuys Airport and 111 at UCLA that day.

As of 6 p.m. Sunday 26,500 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers were without power, including nearly 3,000 in Koreatown. That is down from the 37,000 accounts blacked out Saturday, a day that also set temperature records just below Friday's levels. Since the heat wave began on Friday LADWP crews have restored power to 57,000 customers.

Each account represents a residence or business, meaning air conditioning was out for upwards of 50,0000 Angelenos Sunday.

It was 101 degrees at 2 p.m. Sunday at Van Nuys, but temperatures south of Mulholland had dropped as much as 20 degrees from Friday's extreme heat.

Sunday, circuit trouble remained centered in a swath of L.A. from the Wilshire and Westlake districts into Koreatown and eastern Hollywood, where more than 11,000 accounts were blacked out Sunday morning.

The area between the Hollywood (101) Freeway and Griffith Park had about 5,000 accounts offline, and the Leimert Park and southwest part of Los Angeles had nearly 2,000 addresses without power.

In the San Fernando Valley, blackouts remain centered in Panorama City.

Outside the Los Angeles city limits, Southern California Edison reported far fewer problems: 3,758 accounts were without power Sunday afternoon.

Back in Los Angeles, DWP officials said Saturday's power demand was the second-highest of any weekend day in the city's history, with peak use exceeding 5,700 megawatts, one day after a July record of 6,256 megawatts was used on Friday, which was the most used for a single day since 2006 when 6,165 megawatts were used.

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