Underground Water Seepage Blamed for Blackout in Portion of Huntington Beach

Water seeping into a Southern California Edison Co. underground vault was blamed for knocking out power to about 2,800 Huntington Beach residents Sunday afternoon.

Repair crews had restored electricity to all but an estimated 350 to 400 customers by 8:30 p.m., Edison spokesman Ken Bellis said. Power was expected to be back on for the remaining customers by 10:30 p.m., he said.

Bellis said the outage occurred about 4:50 p.m. in a three-square-mile area of northwest Huntington Beach bordered by Heil Avenue on the north, Ellis Avenue on the south, Springdale Street on the west and Golden West Street on the east.

“We suspect the cause of the outage as water in an underground vault,” Bellis said, adding that seeping rainwater often takes a while after a rain to corrode equipment.