201908.03
0

11,900 customers in Irvine still without power; outage could last days for some

by in News

The lights, TV and Wi-Fi  adapter abruptly shut down inside Tera McVicker’s Irvine apartment as night fell Friday. Smoke from a fire at a nearby electrical substation left the smell of fumes in the air. Traffic signals visible outside went dark, as did the lights inside her neighbors’ residences.

McVickers couldn’t sleep Friday night. Without air-conditioning, her apartment got unbearably hot. In addition, McVickers, who is a manager at the Mother’s Market & Kitchen, just across the street from the malfunctioning substation, also worried that perishable produce stored in freezers at the market would be ruined.

“I thought all of our food was going to be bad,” she said. “We couldn’t have taken the loss.”

Her employers arranged the delivery of a gas-powered generator by about 9 p.m., allowing workers to open the store on time and do business Saturday. Mothers Market, and only four other business out of the more than 20 shops and restaurants at the Park Place shopping center, remained open a day into the outage.

Across the street, Southern California Edison maintenance crews continued to assess the damage from fire near the intersection of Jamboree Road and Michelson Drive. At the peak of the outage Friday night, as many as 28,000 customers were affected, SCE officials said.

About 11,900 SCE customers did not have electricity running to their property as of 5:30 p.m. Saturday. Workers planned to begin re-routing circuits through the area, and the utility expected power to start reaching some of those buildings in stages by about 6 p.m., SCE spokeswoman Mary Ann Milbourn said. The process could last through Sunday, but once it is completed, electricity should be restored to all customers in the area.

“We really are appreciative of everyone’s patience,” Milbourn said. “We know it has been really inconvenient, especially with how hot it’s been.”

Some residents may experience intermittent outages while crews work on the grid, Milbourn said. Those should be brief, and the entire repair project should be finished before Monday.

The 11,900 customer figure was an increase from the 8 a.m. update, which reported 10,500 customers out of power.

“The last estimate was wrong and we corrected it,” Milbourn said.

As of Saturday morning, 17 intersections in Irvine were affected by the outage, down from 50 on Friday, the Irvine Police Department said.

The outage impacted terminals Friday at John Wayne Airport, where a full ground stop directly and indirectly affected about 2,000 commercial flights, Deanne Thompson, a spokeswoman for JWA, said. All operations at the facility were back online Saturday morning, and flights were cleared for takeoff from the airport as of 6:30 a.m.

Elsewhere, thousands of residents remained without working lights, refrigerators and air conditioning units in Irvine, where the National Weather Service forecast temperatures to climb as high as 89 degrees Saturday.  A care and reception center was set up at Northwood High School in Irvine and was available as a cooling center for those who need shelter, according to the Irvine Police Department.

Meanwhile, residents in the area affected by the outage who did have power restored to their homes were asked to limit the use of air conditioners and other appliances while maintenance staff worked on repairs, SCE spokesman Ron Gales said. SCE recommended six things customers can do in order to conserve power and reduce strain on the local electrical grid:

  • Turn off air conditioning or set thermostats no lower than 78 degrees.
  • Close drapes and blinds to keep out direct sunlight during hot periods.
  • When practical at night, use electric fans and open windows instead of using air conditioning.
  • Limit the opening and reopening of refrigerators, a major user of electricity in most homes.
  • Turn off all auxiliary or redundant machinery where possible.
  • Turn off lights in any unoccupied area.

The fire that led to the outage started at 6:18 p.m., SCE spokeswoman Lois Pitter Bruce said. A motorist driving in the area reported seeing a transformer that appeared to be on fire at the corner of Jamboree and Michelson in Irvine. It was extinguished by 8 p.m. and no injuries were reported, but it was not immediately clear what caused the blaze.

Less than a mile away, the malfunction led to the loss of power at University Synagogue shortly before evening services were scheduled to begin, Rabbi Arnold Rachlis said. He had about 40 minutes to figure out how to preside over 300 congregants without a microphone, speakers, lights or air conditioning.

Rachlis anticipated complaints as people packed an unlit house of worship on a muggy summer evening, close to the lectern so they could hear the rabbi’s unamplified voice. Some craned forward in their seats to listen, while others sat at the steps of the pulpit.

“Huddled together, they leaned in and smiled at the uniqueness of the moment,” Rachlis said. “We were all in this together.”

Elsewhere, small groups of curious residents formed outside of darkened homes in Irvine to ask their neighbors if they were also suffering the effects of the blackout.

City News Service contributed to this report.