THE LOS ANGELES EARTHQUAKE : Utilities Survive Remarkably Well; Edison Hit Worst

The lights went out for more than half a million Southern Californians, phone callers could not get through badly overloaded circuits, the San Onofre nuclear power plant issued a precautionary alert and thousands of residents were without gas--needlessly--in the aftermath of the quake.

Southern California Gas Co. reported that it was swamped with phone calls for help in restoring gas service at thousands of homes where residents turned off their gas after hearing incorrect advice from the news media.

Vicki Cho, a company spokeswoman, said that some television and radio stations advised people to immediately turn off their gas, when in fact the gas should only be turned off if residents smell gas or hear a loud hissing sound from gas lines.

She said KNBC Channel 4 and KABC Channel 7 were asked to stop advising customers to shut off gas and did so.

“We don’t know where the media got that information, but it’s just not right,” she said.

A spokesman for KABC said that its reporters did not give out incorrect advice but stressed that people only turn off the gas if they smelled leaks. A KNBC employee said no officials were available for comment.

Cho said the gas company had received triple the usual number of service calls, noting that in the San Gabriel Valley alone, “we had 700 calls to restore gas by 1 p.m., but only two of those locations proved to have any damage.”

Crews will work throughout the weekend to restore service, she added.

While gas, electricity and other services in many, if not most, homes were disrupted by the quake or by residents who disconnected them, only one of the region’s utility companies reported major structural damage to equipment.

“Five of our substations were temporarily knocked out and suffered significant damage,” said Bob Krauch, a spokesman for Southern California Edison Co., which serves most of Los Angeles County. Affected were substations in Cerritos, North Long Beach, Monterey Park and Rosemead.

As power lines were briefly shut off and redirected to cover the affected areas, about 260,000 customers lost power for varying periods of time, Krauch said.

By noon all Edison substations were operating again, although not all of the damaged circuits had been repaired. Late Thursday about 30,000 households were still without electricity.

Krauch said a preliminary estimate placed damage at more than $2 million.

Another 270,000 customers were blacked out in Los Angeles, but services to all but 3,400 dwellings had been restored by noon, reported Mark Haefele, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. By late Thursday, less than 80 customers remained in the dark.

Only slight damage to the city’s power and water facilities were reported in North Hollywood, Van Nuys and other San Fernando Valley areas, he added.

Haefele said the Mulholland water tank in North Hollywood developed a leak due to the earthquake, and its half-million gallons had to be emptied to permit repairs. The procedure did not affect water supplies in the area, Haefele said.

Pacific Bell did not suffer major damage, but some circuits were cut off, substations were briefly affected by power shortages and many phone receivers were knocked off their hooks by the earthquake, causing the system to overload, a company spokeswoman said.

The greatest damage, the company reported, was in the San Gabriel Valley, near the epicenter, said Charlene Baldwin, Pacific Bell’s media relations manager.

“Because of the overwhelming amount of callers (approximately 300,000 in the first 15 minutes), phone circuits were jammed early in the morning, but no prefixes are out, and we only experienced minor sporadic problems,” Baldwin said.

A spokesman for AT&T; said long distance service was “status quo.”

At the Southern California Edison-operated San Onofre nuclear power station two miles south of San Clemente in northern San Diego County, officials in charge issued an “unusual event” alert, the lowest emergency condition, as a precautionary measure, a company official said. A subsequent inspection of the plant revealed no damage and the alert was lifted, said Edison spokesman David Barron.