Falling Palm Frond Causes Power Outage
Twenty-eight homes lost power for more than four hours Friday night after a transformer exploded.
The outage occurred when a palm frond knocked down power lines just after 5 p.m. in the 500 block of West 6th Street, knocking out power for a few seconds to 937 customers, Edison regional manager Ernie Villegas said.
The electrical surge created by the downed lines caused a transformer to explode at 7:50 p.m., he said.
An exploding transformer makes a sound similar to a jet breaking the sound barrier, Villegas said. Customers who live near the transformer “probably heard it more than they would have felt it,” he said.
Loss of the transformer darkened 28 homes in the affected blocks of 5th, 6th and 7th streets. Power was restored by 12:06 a.m. Saturday.
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