Sunday “Heat Storm” Update: Power Coming Back

With many Larchmont-area homes and businesses without power for up to 24 hours over the last couple of days during the current heatwave, it’s good to note that electricity is now being restored to much of our local area.

This morning Buzz readers and local social media outlets have been lighting up with “Power’s On!” posts from around the area, and many Larchmont-area businesses have reported that they are back in business today.

LADWP spokesman Micheal Ventre told the Buzz this morning the outage was heat related.

“Because of high temperatures which started Friday afternoon, people start running their air conditioners. This heavy usage during high temperatures puts a strain on the equipment,” explained Ventre.

We asked for more detailed information on the condition of our local infrastructure and hope the have more information on that when the LADWP is no longer in crisis mode.

The DWP sent out an update around 11 p.m. Saturday night, noting that – at that point – many customers throughout the city were still in the dark…but that crews were working around the clock on repairs:

“With another triple-digit day of record-breaking heat, electricity demand and additional outages, LADWP has increased its estimated restoration time from 12 – 24 hours to 24-48 hours, with restoration work on some more complex outages potentially taking longer than 48 hours. Unrelenting weather conditions and high energy demand continue to strain equipment, ranging from underground cables, to overhead power lines, as well as larger-scale equipment including overloaded power distribution stations and related equipment. Power restoration crews have been called in from DWP facilities in Lone Pine, Bishop, Mojave, and Victorville CA, as well as from contract crews to assist LA-based crews working 16-hour shifts around the clock to restore power to all affected customers. Saturday’s peak electricity use exceeded 5700 megawatts, making it the 2nd highest weekend day in LA history.

As of 10 P.M., localized power outages are affecting approximately 37,000 LADWP customers out of 1.5 million. Since the heat storm began Friday, LADWP crews have restored power to nearly 20,000 customers with an average outage duration of 11 hours.

In the Metro Los Angeles area, Beverly Grove is down to 19 customers affected from 2,000 without power earlier in the afternoon. Other communities with the most customers impacted are: Westlake with 4,600 customers without power; Koreatown, 4,900 customers; Los Feliz at 3,300 customers; and Exposition Park, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Larchmont, Hollywood and Hancock Park ranging from 1,000 to 2,000 customers without power.”

Here was the list of local areas/customers still affected by outages at 10 p.m. on Saturday:

MID-WILSHIRE 761
MID-CITY 158
HOLLYWOOD 1149
FAIRFAX 56
WINDSOR SQUARE 927
BEVERLY CREST 459
LARCHMONT 1630
HANCOCK PARK 1153
WESTLAKE 4585
KOREATOWN 4962
BEVERLY GROVE 19

————–

UPDATE (added after initial publication) :  as of 10 a.m. Sunday, these are the new totals from LADWP:

MID-WILSHIRE 1288
CARTHAY 45
FAIRFAX 56
MID-CITY 141
HOLLYWOOD 1149
WINDSOR SQUARE 927
LARCHMONT 213
HANCOCK PARK 163
KOREATOWN 4859
BEVERLY GROVE 19