SANTA CLARITA HIT BY OUTAGE : THOUSANDS CUT OFF FROM ELECTRICITY FOR UP TO 10 HOURS.Byline: Lisa Van Proyen Daily News Staff Writer A power outage Noun 1. power outage - equipment failure resulting when the supply of power fails; "the ice storm caused a power outage" power failure equipment failure, breakdown - a cessation of normal operation; "there was a power breakdown" hit the Santa Clarita Valley The Santa Clarita Valley is the valley of the Santa Clara River in Southern California. It stretches through Los Angeles County and Ventura County. Its main population center is the city of Santa Clarita. The valley was part of the 48,612-acre (19,672. on Tuesday, leaving an estimated 3,800 customers without electricity for up to 10 hours, trapping trapping, most broadly, the use of mechanical or deceptive devices to capture, kill, or injure animals. It may be applied to the practice of using birdlime to capture birds, lobster pots to trap lobsters, and seines to catch fish. two people in elevators, and resulting in a fiery street explosion along Lyons Avenue. Southern California Edison Southern California Edison (or SCE Corp), the largest subsidiary of Edison International (NYSE: EIX), is the primary electricity supply company for much of Southern California. It provides 11 million people with electricity. officials said they were not sure what caused the 7:36 a.m. outage out·age n. 1. A quantity or portion of something lacking after delivery or storage. 2. A temporary suspension of operation, especially of electric power. in a 4-square-mile area, roughly bounded by McBean Parkway to the north and scattered Scattered Used for listed equity securities. Unconcentrated buy or sell interest. areas up to Valencia Boulevard, Orchard Village Road to the east, Lyons Avenue to the south and Interstate in·ter·state adj. Involving, existing between, or connecting two or more states. n. One of a system of highways extending between the major cities of the 48 contiguous United States. Noun 1. 5 to the west. The outage caused elevators to stop, trapping one woman at the Hampton Inn in Newhall, and another person in an elevator at a doctor's office along Lyons Avenue, near the freeway, fire officials said. In both cases, the victims were uninjured and freed by firefighters within 20 minutes. As Edison workers were testing the system to bring customers back up, an underground oil switch malfunctioned and exploded at about 8:30 a.m., along Lyons Avenue at Chiquella Lane, said Glen Becerra, region manager at Edison. The force of the blast lifted a 4-by-4-foot manhole cover from the street, with witnesses describing flames leaping up to 20 feet high. An oil switch allows Edison to re-route power to customers. This sort of explosion is considered ``a very rare occurrence,'' said Denise Henderson, an Edison spokeswoman. About two miles away at McBean Parkway and Singing Hills Drive, Edison employees worked to repair another underground switch that had apparently failed. But officials could not say whether this caused the outage. The outage mostly affected residents - just five percent of the customers that lost power were businesses, Henderson said. By 4 p.m., power was restored to all but nine businesses in the vicinity of the explosion, officials said. Edison employees planned to work through the night to replace the switch. Mohammad Hossain was among the dozens of people who saw the explosion across the street from the Newhall Mobil gas station he manages. ``I heard a big bang big bang Model of the origin of the universe, which holds that it emerged from a state of extremely high temperature and density in an explosive expansion 10 billion–15 billion years ago. like a bomb,'' said Hossain, who immediately called 911. ``I looked outside and I saw the flame there. At first, it reached about 15 feet, then 20 feet.'' He said it lasted less than five minutes, rattling motorists' nerves. Drivers managed to avoid the flames and luckily, Edison officials said, no injuries or damage to private property was immediately reported. Most businesses in the area closed because they were not equipped with costly generators. Hossain was forced to close his station and estimated that he lost at least $2,500 after just two hours of turning away morning commuters and holiday travelers. Next door, Denny's Restaurant served only cold drinks and sandwiches to a handful of customers, as most workers were sent home, with a few remaining to clean the restaurant. About 15 customers and a dozen employees at Denny's ran out of the restaurant in fear after seeing the street explosion, said Carlos Vizar, general manager of the Newhall restaurant. ``I was there calming people. We saw the lid blow up. It was very powerful,'' he said. ``The windows and the ground really kind of shook.'' Edison officials said they are investigating what caused the incident. CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: (color) Jack Russell Jack Russell may refer to:
Terri Thuente/Daily News |
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