EMP IS CAPABLE OF CAUSING CATASTROPHE FOR THE NATION
September 8, 2011
Power Outage Hits Southern California
Los Angeles, A massive power outage has cut electricity to a large swath of Southern California, and parts of Mexico, according to electric-power companies and law-enforcement officials.
San Diego County, parts of Orange County and the Mexican state of Baja California lost power late Thursday afternoon, they said.
At a televised news conference Thursday, an official with San Diego Gas & Electric said residents in the affected areas could expect to be without power through the rest of the night and into Friday.
He urged residents to use their emergency supplies and plans.
The official said it wasn't a terror attack, calling the outage a "system issue." Electric-company employees were working to restore power Thursday.
Some law-enforcement officials said the outage had spread as far east as Yuma, Ariz., near the California border.
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Most of Southern Orange County was without power, causing major traffic congestion as the outage hit at the height of rush hour, leaving major intersections without traffic lights.
The power outage caused the San Onofre nuclear power plant operated by Edison International's Southern California Edison utility to automatically shut down at about 3:38 p.m. local time, said SoCal Edison spokesman Paul Klein. He said the power plant's two units had enough off-site power to operate the plant's safety systems, but declined to provide details.
SoCal Edison customers in Orange and Riverside Counties have been hardest hit by the outage. The utility did not have an estimate for how many customers were without electricity.
In a statement on its website, San Diego Gas & Electric that because the outage affects streetlights, residents should "drive safely and treat the street lights as a four-way stop."
"It's a mess," said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff. Mr. Amormino said the county had activated its emergency operations center—control rooms typically activated during earthquakes and fires—to manage the situation.
No major incidents, like crimes or deaths, had been reported Thursday afternoon, law-enforcement officials said. But they braced for nightfall.
"As night comes, that can lead to a whole other series of issues," Mr. Amormino said.
The outage comes as Southern California is experiencing a late-summer heat wave. Temperatures topped 100 degrees in some parts of region Thursday.
The region's major air-traffic-control center for high-altitude traffic, located in San Diego County, switched to backup generator power at about 4 p.m., and it continued normal operations, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. FAA officials were preparing contingency plans to transfer aircraft monitoring to a separate facility in Lancaster, Calif., in northern Los Angeles County, if necessary.
Los Angeles, A massive power outage has cut electricity to a large swath of Southern California, and parts of Mexico, according to electric-power companies and law-enforcement officials.
San Diego County, parts of Orange County and the Mexican state of Baja California lost power late Thursday afternoon, they said.
At a televised news conference Thursday, an official with San Diego Gas & Electric said residents in the affected areas could expect to be without power through the rest of the night and into Friday.
He urged residents to use their emergency supplies and plans.
The official said it wasn't a terror attack, calling the outage a "system issue." Electric-company employees were working to restore power Thursday.
Some law-enforcement officials said the outage had spread as far east as Yuma, Ariz., near the California border.
Continues
Most of Southern Orange County was without power, causing major traffic congestion as the outage hit at the height of rush hour, leaving major intersections without traffic lights.
The power outage caused the San Onofre nuclear power plant operated by Edison International's Southern California Edison utility to automatically shut down at about 3:38 p.m. local time, said SoCal Edison spokesman Paul Klein. He said the power plant's two units had enough off-site power to operate the plant's safety systems, but declined to provide details.
SoCal Edison customers in Orange and Riverside Counties have been hardest hit by the outage. The utility did not have an estimate for how many customers were without electricity.
In a statement on its website, San Diego Gas & Electric that because the outage affects streetlights, residents should "drive safely and treat the street lights as a four-way stop."
"It's a mess," said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff. Mr. Amormino said the county had activated its emergency operations center—control rooms typically activated during earthquakes and fires—to manage the situation.
No major incidents, like crimes or deaths, had been reported Thursday afternoon, law-enforcement officials said. But they braced for nightfall.
"As night comes, that can lead to a whole other series of issues," Mr. Amormino said.
The outage comes as Southern California is experiencing a late-summer heat wave. Temperatures topped 100 degrees in some parts of region Thursday.
The region's major air-traffic-control center for high-altitude traffic, located in San Diego County, switched to backup generator power at about 4 p.m., and it continued normal operations, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. FAA officials were preparing contingency plans to transfer aircraft monitoring to a separate facility in Lancaster, Calif., in northern Los Angeles County, if necessary.
