LAGUNA BEACH : Power Outage Snarls Traffic Downtown
About 850 homes and businesses lost power midday Friday when an underground electrical cable failed in front of the Festival of Arts grounds, a Southern California Edison Co. representative said.
The power outage snarled traffic downtown when traffic lights went out temporarily, Deputy Police Chief Jim Spreine said.
“In Laguna, with the traffic . . . can you imagine a Friday afternoon with the street lights not functioning?†he said.
Steven Nelson, Edison’s area manager for Laguna Beach, said power was lost at 12:31 p.m. About half of Edison’s customers had electricity restored within half an hour and the remainder by 2:38 p.m., he said.
Municipal Services Director Terry Brandt said four sewer pump stations were affected by the outage and relied on backup generators.
Stacey Griffith, a manager at the Renaissance Cafe on Forest Avenue said the restaurant lost power for about 30 minutes. When computerized kitchen equipment, including the dishwasher, failed to work, Griffith said, servers switched to plastic plates and offered cold food.
“We served sandwiches and salads and what hot coffee we had left and, basically, that was it,†she said.
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