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The view down Pine Ave from 6th St. #lbpwrout #LongBeach #blackout pic.twitter.com/A5bErq7N5B
— Gregory Yee 余國光 (@GregoryYYee) July 17, 2015
Thousands of Long Beach residents are still without power for a third day, after an underground fire sent manhole covers flying earlier this week.
Roughly six thousand Southern California Edison customers around downtown Long Beach have been experiencing short and long term power outages since Wednesday afternoon. Crews restored power to most of the customers, only to create additional outages while conducting repair work, according to ABC 7. Shortly after 2 a.m. this morning, crews were trying to test underground power lines at Locust Avenue and 6th Street when smoke began rising from manhole covers.
Power tests ran @ 2:10am. Smoke out of potholes around 6th+Locust now. Fix needed. 5,200 customers without power again in a few mins.
— City of Long Beach (@LongBeachCity) July 17, 2015
As of Friday morning nearly 3,200 customers are still without power according to SCE—an increase from 2,700 affected on Thursday. Traffic around the area has also been significantly affected with congestion reported throughout surface streets and northbound lanes of the 710 freeway closed at the Third Street onramp, and southbound off ramps closed at Broadway and Sixth Street.
The city of Long Beach and employees from SCE have been providing water, ice and flashlights to residents affected by the outages. The utility company has not provided an estimate as to when the repairs will be completed. But in the meantime, customers are airing their grievances with the company and sharing images of the outages on social media.
UPDATE: See link for #StreetClosures due to SCE work. Affected streets include 3rd, 6th & Locust Ave http://t.co/s5UaAeSMAS
— Long Beach PD (CA) (@LBPD) July 17, 2015
.@SCE is giving out water, ice & flashlights at 714 Pacific Ave near 7th St until they run out. #lbpwrout #LongBeach pic.twitter.com/9HWsOXvrwC
— Melissa A. (@cahnybee) July 17, 2015
@SCE does SCE cover costs of losing food? I just spent $200 on organic meats and produce, dairy, etc + all else that was in fridge.
— Katie McCoy (@kmac_05) July 17, 2015
36 hours without power. And Apollo13 had more power coming home. Thanks @sce for the rush job. I bet all the (cont) http://t.co/KeQeYTrlLW
— Dee Ann Graves (@PrincessGraves) July 17, 2015
Power still out,lights out - restaurants and stores closed as the sun sets in downtown Long Beach #sce #poweroutage http://t.co/DItEYvITkV
— Stephen Carr (@Carrphotos) July 17, 2015
Very eerie to see no lights on! Please fix @SCE so we don't have another blackout night. #LongBeach #lbpwrout pic.twitter.com/uXWgGDbMWo
— Blackbird (@kbrows) July 16, 2015
#LongBeach. Power outage still affecting thousands. Traffic lights out. No end in sight @KNX1070 @CBSLA pic.twitter.com/GEeBXU06Kv
— Jon Baird (@KNXBaird) July 17, 2015
On the bright side, powerless customers can still charge their phones and go to the Aquarium of the Pacific:
Mobile device charging station being set up by @VerizonWireless, ready by noon at 3rd and Promenade. Can serve 50-60 at at time #lbpwrout
— City of Long Beach (@LongBeachCity) July 17, 2015
