Politics & Government
Lights Out in Mission Viejo
Schools close Friday and drivers react to dark traffic lights as a power failure casts darkness upon half of Mission Viejo.
Mission Viejo was a city split in two Thursday night--one side light, the other pitch dark.
La Paz Road was the northernmost boundary of a power failure that stretched south as far as Baja, Mexico. San Diego Gas and Electric said all of its 1.4 million customers were without power beginning around 3:45 p.m.
Throughout the evening, power was restored in some pockets of town. Businesses near the I-5 along Crown Valley Parkway saw their power restored around 7:30 p.m.
Find out what's happening in Mission Viejofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
See the photo above as cars quickly pack a Crown Valley gas station when the power turns on.
By 10:30 p.m., large neighborhoods south of La Paz Road were still covered in darkness. Some traffic lights, like the one on Marguerite and Oso, had enough power to run blinking red lights.
Find out what's happening in Mission Viejofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Other intersections, like the traffic light on the Marguerite/Via Angelina intersection, were completely dark.
Check the video above of cars blowing through this dark intersection.
All Capistrano Unified schools are closed Friday.
"We are sorry for the obvious inconvenience to our working families," Superintendent Joe Farley said in a statement, "but it is clearly not proper to have students in school without electricity to power key systems including lights, refrigeration, and computers."
Saddleback Valley Unified had not made an announcement on their website as of 11 p.m. Thursday night. According to the city website, "Saddleback Unified School District reports that classes will be open tomorrow, September 9th."
canceled classes Thursday evening, said spokesperson Amy Wheeler. But power is now back, and classes will resume as usual Friday morning.
was at the city's water reclamation plant shooting a video when the power went off.
"All the backup and emergency pumps are working flawlessly," he said. "Every single one of them is on now. It's great to see what happens in an emergency here. It went off without a hitch."
SDGE said it expects some of its customers to be without power until "well into" Friday. However the company announced it had restored power to some Mission Viejo customers by 10:30 p.m.
