Posted on 09/12/2005 6:36:07 PM PDT by TERMINATTOR
LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials said an outage Monday afternoon was linked to human error at a receiving station.
Power officials reported outages from the San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles. Workers connected the wrong wires, causing a surge of power that led to shutdowns at three power generating stations, according to officials.
Receiving stations take high-voltage power from generating stations and convert it to lower voltage. It can then be used throughout the city.
Ron Deaton, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the system is designed to shut down when it receives too much power.
"They connected it to another line that was not expecting that much electricity," said Deaton.
Power to DWP customers went out at about 1 p.m.
The cable has been rewired, according to authorities. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said that power was restored to 90 percent of Los Angeles customers within two hours of the outage.
Authorities said power will be restored to all areas by Monday evening.
Traffic lights, including ramp meters, were affected by the outages. Officials said the outage might slow traffic Monday afternoon.
A major portion of the San Fernando Valley reported outages, but power was being restored in some areas just before 2 p.m.
"It was completely dark -- we had no air conditioning." - Sue Morris, woman trapped in elevator
Several schools were without power. Students were kept in classrooms.
Sporadic outages occurred in downtown Los Angeles. Authorities said some people were trapped in elevators in the downtown area.
"It was completely dark -- we had no air conditioning," said Sue Morris, who was trapped in an elevator for 45 minutes.
Los Angeles International Airport lost power, but an emergency generator was triggered. No flights were affected. UCLA Medical Center used backup generators and reported no danger to patients.
The outage also affected Burbank, which is part of a system separate from surrounding communities.
Emergency services were operating, according to authorities. The police department was on "full tactical alert," meaning officers remained on duty past their scheduled shifts.
Several Refineries Burn Off Gas Due To Outage
South Bay residents were advised to stay indoors Monday as several refineries in the area burned off gas to relieve extra pressure that built up during a power outage, city fire officials said.
Two employees at the Conoco-Phillips refinery in Wilmington were hospitalized after a backup occurred in a smokestack during the burn-off, according to fire officials.
An automatic community alert network was activated in the area because of the burn-offs, advising residents to stay indoors, said Jim Wells, of the city Fire Department. The system automatically dials residents and urges them to remain inside as a precaution against any possible airborne health threat caused by the refinery burnoff.
Firefighters were called to the Conoco-Phillips refinery at 1660 W. Anaheim St. at 2:15 p.m., said Ron Myers, of the Los Angeles Fire Department.
Two employees of the refinery were taken to a hospital with respiratory complaints. They were listed in stable condition.
Myers said refineries use power to relieve pressure inside the cracking tower, but when the power goes out, they use the smokestacks to relieve the extra pressure, Myers said.
Two other refineries also flared gas out of their smokestacks when the power went out, but only the Conoco-Phillips refinery had a problem in the smokestack, Myers said.
And some CA Dem party official was blaming Arnold for this on FNC.
It bites when the instructions are printed in English!;)
Duh! Come on, guys. Red is the positive, black is the negative. Sheesh! :=)
It sounds like they connected a transformer incorrectly.
Achmed, was that the green wire or the red wi....... KABOOM!!!
Power also was out in the L.A. harbor area.
I hate when that happens.
Was it completely dark? Was there any air conditioning?
Thats what you get with Union labor.
It's Bush's fault. ;)
It was horrible, a sweltering 71 degrees, and no AC for several minutes. Trafic lights were out, and several illegal aliens got lost, and ended up back in their own country.
OH, THE HUMANITY!
Ahhh yes --- first it was a lone workman who accidentally cut through a thick main power feeder cable.
That didn't fly -- especially with the multiple refinery explosions afterwards.
So now, a NEW TALE .....
What's for tomorrow? The Tooth Fairy (this IS california after all!) did it?
Given that this was LA, and that there was a terrorist threat against LA recently, I wonder if there weren't any, shall we say, incivility on the streets?
Wishful thinking on that last part there, would be nice if that were all it took to get 'em out.
"DWP: Workers Trigger Outage By Connecting Wrong Wires"
Outage, but no outrage at the local department? It must have been Bush's fault.
That was Bob Mulholland. I heard the dope too. Typical Democrat, always ready to point the finger. I got a particular kick out of his saying that there should be a back up system that kicks on whenever the power in these big cities goes out. Yeah, like that's really feasible. Hell, he'd have a heart attack if he lived here in Rome, New York. Just about every time there's a heavy rain storm, the power goes out...sometimes for 6-8 hours.
The media really went crazy with this outage, trying to make more of it than it was. I realize some goofus wannabe white Moslem made a threatening video about L.A., but jeeze! these media people went off the deep end on this one.
CNN, the "Cadaver News Network" was outraged at the outage. I thought Wolfie was going into one of his New Orleans mental meltdowns.
Good thing Shep or Whoraldo was not on the scene, tears would have been shed along with the electricity.
So, if you reverse the wires on a car horn will it suck instead of blow?
Oh come now - Fairy is such an offensive codeword. It's Dentally Obsessive Individual Seeking His or Her Own Orientation.
Geeze.
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