UPDATE | In a Sunday afternoon tweet, the City of Long Beach announced that power had returned in full to downtown Long Beach residents, ending a power outage that had impacted 11,000 residents at its peak.
By now, @sce has restored power to Downtown #LongBeach. If you don’t have power, reset circuit breakers, then call 800-611-1911. #lbpwrout
— City of Long Beach (@LongBeachCity) July 19, 2015
PREVIOUSLY: Power Restored to Over 90% of Downtown Long Beach; Work Continues at Epicenter of Blackout
07/18/15 at 1:33PM: More than 90 percent of downtown Long Beach customers have electricity, leaving only about 200 still without power after a cable failure and underground electrical fire caused thousands to go without electricity since Wednesday afternoon, Long Beach City officials announced Saturday morning.
While Southern California Edison crews continue work in the area where the electrical fire occurred on Wednesday, July 15, personnel have also been placing generators in order of those who most need it, according to Kerry Gerot, public information officer for the Long Beach City Manager’s Office.
“You treat it just like medical patients,” Gerot said in reference to the way they triage the generators, which are in high demand by the customers still without power.
PREVIOUSLY: Power Restored to 80% of Downtown Long Beach, Officials Say; Remainder Expected to Have Service Within 24 Hours
7/18/15 at 12:56AM | About 80 percent of Southern California Edison customers who were without power for the past three days now have electricity, leaving only small pockets of downtown Long Beach and the civic center neighborhood—the original site of the cable failure—without power, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said at a press conference Friday night.
Authorities hope to restore service within the next 24 hours to the approximately 650 downtown Long Beach residents still without power, city and Edison officials said.
Southern California Edison Vice President of Transmission, Substations and Operations Paul Grigaux encouraged customers to test if their power is back on by restarting their circuit breakers. If power is still out, the public should then report it to the Edison call center at 800.655.4555.
As of Friday night, 14 generators were providing key sites with power, Grigaux said, with additional generators on standby.
Long Beach Fire Department spokesman Brian Fisk said first responders would continue making wellness checks Saturday and providing necessary resources from 8AM to noon Saturday.
A 11:30AM hot dog lunch was also scheduled at Cesar Chavez Park on Saturday. Shelter and resources will still be provided at the park as well.
Edison officials were also aware of a few areas in other parts of the downtown without power, but those pockets were being worked on, Garcia said.
“This has been very trying for the city, a very serious issue, but the professionalism and the community have really come together to make sure that it’s been as smooth as possible,” Garcia noted.
The power outages in downtown Long Beach began Wednesday afternoon when a cable failure in the area’s underground network system caused a fire and surrounding vaults to fail.
Photos by Stephanie Rivera.