Community Corner

SCE: Downed Power Lines Caused Massive Outage

Officials from Southern California Edison are still trying to figure out why the power lines fell, causing the massive power outage earlier this month.

More than a week and a half after the power outage that affected more than 115,000 Southern California Edison customers in the South Bay—including thousands on the Palos Verdes Peninsula—the utility is still trying to pinpoint the cause of the outage.

The outage occurred shortly after 7 a.m. Sept. 15.

SCE representative Marvin Jackman said the cause of the outage was located on 190th Street between Crenshaw Boulevard and Van Ness Avenue, where one set of power lines fell on top of another.

Find out what's happening in Palos Verdeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"All those subtransmission wires (near the top of the poles) were down—dangling, literally laying on top of the distribution lines," Jackman said at a meeting of the Rolling Hills Estates City Council on Tuesday. He noted that he had never seen an incident like that before.

Due to a process called automated switching, power was restored to most customers by 2 p.m., he said.

Find out what's happening in Palos Verdeswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

SCE is continuing to investigate why the wires fell, Jackman said. Upon completion of the investigation, the information will be turned over to the California Public Utilities Commission.


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