Southern California hit by major power failure

SAN DIEGO?? Failure of major transmission lines on Thursday cut power to millions of people in Southern California and northwestern Mexico.

The problem extended from San Clemente, Calif., in southern Orange County south to Mexico's Baja peninsula and east to Yuma, Ariz. The brunt was felt by the city of San Diego; 1.4 million customers served by San Diego Gas & Electric Co. were without electricity.Arizona utilities reported about 56,000 without power.

breakingnews.com: Get the latest on the California power outage

SDG&E officials said there was a problem with a transmission line from Arizona to Southern California that caused both major connections to the region to go out.

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Charles Coleman, a spokesman from Southern California Edison, said the two reactors at the San Onofre nuclear power plant went offline at 3:38 p.m. as they are programmed to do when there is a disturbance in the power grid, but there was no danger to the public or to workers there.

"Essentially we have two connections from the rest of the world: One is from the north and one is to the east. Both connections are severed," said Mike Niggli, SDG&E's chief operating officer, said at a news conference.

In a press release Thursday night, the Arizona Public Service said one of its employees was carrying out a procedure at a substation northeast of Yuma when there was a problem. The utility said the resulting power failure should have been isolated to the Yuma area. An investigation into why it was not is under way, the utility said.

Niggli and FBI officials had earlier ruled out terrorism. "To my knowledge this is the first time we've lost an entire system," Niggli said.

The utility officials said they were unsure how long it would take to restore power but electricity might be out in some areas into Friday.

Roads in San Diego were gridlocked with power out to traffic lights, and Mayor Jerry Sanders asked citizens in a tweet to stay off roads and keep landline phones clear for emergencies.

Gas stations can't pump gas and mobile phone networks were spotty, University of San Diego Professor Alan Gin said by phone. "Virtually every street light is out," he said.

In southern Orange County, the sheriff's department dispatched deputies to busy intersections because traffic lights were out, said John McDonald, a sheriff's spokesman.

At San Diego City Hall, some people were trapped in elevators, but were freed by firefighters, NBC station KNSD reported.?

San Diego police spokeswoman Andra Brown said that 13 police stations were without power but were able to continue operating and taking 911 calls by using generators.

The outage shut down San Diego's international airport, Lindbergh Field. There was no estimate on how long flights are being delayed; passengers were advised to check with their airline before coming to the airport.

The U.S.-Mexico border in the San Diego region was still open, with U.S. Customs and Border Patrol operating on backup power.

Residents in parts of eastern San Diego County and Yuma, Ariz., 170 miles east of San Diego, endured sweltering temperatures with no air conditioning.

"It feels like you're in an oven and you can't escape," said Rosa Maria Gonzales, a spokeswoman with the Imperial Irrigation District in California's sizzling eastern desert. She said it was about 115 degrees when the power went out for about 150,000 of its customers.

Many of the Tweets from San Diego residents revolved around air conditioning. "I'm going to die of heat in this house with no AC!" wrote Ashleigh Marie. "What am I supposed to dooo."

But San Diego resident Kiersten White tweeted that the power outage "makes me glad I don't have air conditioning to begin with ... nothing to miss!"

Other people were having a harder time. "Trapped outside of our rooms at the hotel," tweeted Rob Myers, visiting San Diego from Washington. Other members of his party got trapped in an elevator, he wrote.

Blackouts hit Mexico's Northern Baja California state in the afternoon, knocking out power to hundreds of maquiladora export assembly plants in the sprawling industrial powerhouse of Tijuana, south of San Diego.

The blackouts knocked out stop lights at intersections across Tijuana, causing traffic snarl ups, and also cut power to hospitals and government offices.

In the desert heat of the Palm Springs area, the temperature was 111 on Thursday, with rolling blackouts. The Eisenhower Medical Center will serve as an oasis of air conditioning since it operates on its own power source, said hospital spokeswoman Deborah Johnson.

Johnson welcomed fragile seniors and others affected by the heat to cool off in their lobby.

"All I can say is God bless air conditioning," she said.

This article contains reporting from NBC News, msnbc.com staff and The Associated Press.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44446563/ns/us_news-life/

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