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Around 140,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers experienced a power outage Saturday evening, lasting over 12 hours before being fully restored Sunday morning. The outage came from an explosion at the Northridge/Reseda receiving station, according to the DWP.
The explosion caused a fire that lasted several hours, cutting out power to customers across the north side of the San Fernando Valley. It damaged transmission and distribution electrical equipment, making it more difficult to restore power, according to the DWP. The cause of the explosion is still unknown, but it may have come from a mechanical failure around cooling equipment, according to the L.A. Times.
Besides causing household and business power outages, most street lights weren't functional and dozens of people were trapped in elevators. Firefighters with the Los Angeles Fire Department rescued those who were trapped and extinguished the flames by 9 p.m., according to Brian Humphrey of the LAFD.
Of the original 140,000 customers without power, 50,000 had their power restored by 10 p.m. after grid operators stabilized power in nearby areas, according to the DWP. The remaining customers saw their power restored by 8:45 a.m. Sunday.
