Thousands of Southland customers without power in record heat wave
LOS ANGELES - Thousands of people across Los Angeles County were without electricity on Saturday amid a record-breaking heat wave, as both Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported scattered outages, with some customers not expected to see their power restored until after sundown.
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) issued a Stage 2 warning for Saturday and the period between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Sunday and Monday. "Based on the current energy forecast, CAISO anticipates rotating outages throughout the state are possible (Sunday) between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m,," according to a CAISO statement.
A Stage 2 Emergency means "the CA ISO has taken all mitigating actions and is no longer able to provide its expected energy requirements. A Stage 2 warning requires ISO intervention in the market, such as ordering powerplants online," according to the agency's website.
SCE was experiencing most of the larger problems as of 4:30 p.m., with 122 total outages affecting more than 21,200 customers, according to Edison spokesman Ron Gales. That includes 1,752 customers in Alhambra, 1,429 customers in an unincorporated area near Calabasas, 833 customers in Long Beach, 4,413 in Monterey Park and about 2,300 in unincorporated Los Angeles County, according to Edison.
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The DWP reported about 14,000 customers were without power in its service area, with the most affected neighborhoods at 6 p.m. including BaldwinHills/Crenshaw, Sun Valley, El Sereno, Reseda and Mid-City, according to the DWP's Dawn Cotterell. "If you are one of them, be assured our crews are responding and working to restore your power."
Both utilities also reported a large number of scattered outages affecting fewer people.
The Southland is experiencing a historic heat wave this weekend, with forecasters predicting temperatures near all-time records in some areas. Woodland Hills broke its all-time record with a temperature of 118 on Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
Elsewhere, Van Nuys had reached 115 degrees by 3 p.m., while it was115 in Chatsworth and Duarte, 114 in Calabasas, 113 in Pasadena, 112 in Santa Clarita and 111 in Burbank.
The California Independent System Operator, which manages the power grid, announced that a Flex Alert -- a call for voluntary conservation -- will be in effect from 3 to 9 p.m. Saturday through Monday.
Urging voluntary conservation is an effort to stave off too much strain on the state's electrical system, possibly leading to rolling power outages, like those that occurred during high heat last month.
An excessive heat warning issued by the NWS will be in effect until 8 p.m. Monday in the San Gabriel and Santa Monica Mountains, Santa Catalina Island and the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, San Gabriel and Antelope valleys.
In Orange County, the warning will be in force in coastal areas from 10 a.m.Saturday until 8 p.m. Monday.
Cooling centers will be open throughout the weekend in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
They can be found at https://ready.lacounty.gov/heat/, and www.211oc.org/resource-centers/extreme-heat-cooling-centers.html
Authorities noted that due to the coronavirus pandemic, cooling centers will be limited in capacity and restrictions will be in place, such as requiring face coverings.