Blackout in California leaves five million in the dark
A huge blackout caused by a human error left almost five million people without power in parts of California, Arizona and Mexico.
Traffic came to a standstill in San Diego yesterday as the city’s street lights went out, and 70 people were rescued from stalled elevators.
The blackout was reportedly caused by an employee carrying out a procedure at an energy station in Arizona.
Officials closed the city’s schools because of a lack of lighting in classrooms, and no guarantee of when power would be available. San Diego airport cancelled outbound flights, and officials say residents may be without power for another day or more.
The incident at the Arizona station first caused the failure of a high-power line supplying electricity to Southern California and resulted in a domino effect across the south west, officials said.
“There appears to be two failures here – one is human failure and the other is a system failure. Both of those will be addressed,” said Damon Gross, a spokesman for Arizona energy company, APS.
Families in some parts of San Diego embraced the power cut by throwing outdoor barbecue parties on their front lawns.
Power was restored to 165,000 customers in San Diego and Orange counties by Thursday night, according to San Diego Gas and Electric company, but residents were warned that all power would not be restored overnight and customers were urged to conserve energy.