Cable Glitch Cuts Power to 1,800 Clients
A failed underground cable connection caused a loss of electricity for 1,800 homes and businesses in downtown Ventura for about 1 1/2 hours Tuesday night.
The equipment failure in an underground vault on Figueroa Street, between Santa Clara Street and Thompson Boulevard, caused a small electrical fire and tripped circuits that resulted in widely scattered outages. Some businesses lost power, while others on the same block were spared. Traffic lights worked at some intersections and not others.
“It’s a short,” said Tony Wilson, regional manager for Southern California Edison. Where it fails “is just a matter of how the circuit is made up.”
The equipment failure is believed to be unrelated to Tuesday’s high temperatures or Saturday’s massive outage that knocked out power to 4 million customers.
About 30 customers were not expected to get their power on again until this morning.
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