Two Harbors cut off without power, phones

For nearly three days, the 200 residents of the tiny Santa Catalina Island hamlet of Two Harbors have been without power and telephone service -- and will probably stay that way for at least a week.

Electricity was knocked out Thursday afternoon, when a fast-moving brush fire destroyed the lines and poles that carry power and telephone service from Avalon northwest to this community at the island’s isthmus.

Residents were plunged abruptly into a 19th century universe, lighting their homes with candles and camp lanterns and, for a time, sharing the only cellphone with a working signal to call relatives on the mainland.

The fire also closed roads from Avalon to Two Harbors, with boat transportation the only connection to Avalon and the mainland.

Although the flames were miles away, Two Harbors residents have been dramatically affected, focusing on hooking up emergency generators and trying to keep meat and milk from spoiling without refrigeration. At a nearby USC research center, hundreds of laboratory studies were jeopardized by the outage.

“We have no power and no phone service,” said John Phelps, executive vice president and general manager of Two Harbors Enterprises, the firm that provides town services and is a subsidiary of Santa Catalina Island Co. He told residents to brace themselves for the possibility that they would be without power for up to three weeks.

However, Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander said he had been told that power could be restored within a week even though the infrastructure serving the town was destroyed.

“It means four miles of infrastructure -- 150 poles, 160,000 feet of cable that has to be strung,” Alexander said.

Two Harbors tourism operators hope power will be back for the Memorial Day weekend, when thousands of campers, hikers, divers and boaters usually descend on the isthmus.

Two Harbors is accustomed to being eclipsed by Avalon, and tourists enjoy the sense of isolation. Although it’s only 12 miles as the crow flies to the larger town, it takes nearly two hours to drive there on 22 miles of winding roads.

Many tourists arrive at Two Harbors on their own boats or stay at camps in the hills. The community consists of modest houses and some trailers. Many who live here work in the store, restaurant, bar and lodge -- all of which were closed because of the power outage.

More than 100 residents gathered at a town hall-style meeting Saturday afternoon to hear the latest news and pick up practical information such as how to operate the 35 emergency generators being distributed. Island managers ran their own barge to the mainland to buy the devices, some of which will be shared by two or three households to at least power refrigerators and a few lights.

The mood at the meeting was a mix of frustration and anxiety.

“It’s a hardship on everyone,” Phelps said.

Without electricity to pump well water, residents are being asked to refrain from flushing toilets frequently or taking long, hot showers. “Shower with a friend,” Phelps quipped.

School was held Friday at Two Harbors Elementary School, but sans computers.

The outage is causing problems at the USC Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, which needs electricity to create oxygenated water for its experiments.

“We are in danger of losing hundreds of experiments,” said the institute’s director, Tony Michaels. He said hundreds of small marine animals -- sea urchins, starfish and tiny crustaceans -- were shipped Friday to USC to keep them alive. The university is expected to send one or more large generators to the institute.

The divers who frequent the island are also encountering problems. USC operates one of the region’s only hyperbaric chambers -- used by divers to safely decompress -- on the island, and currently has only enough stored air to treat one diver. Operators have sent out word to divers to use extra caution.

Tourists are being asked not to visit until Wednesday, and ferries will not take them to Two Harbors.

“It just seems odd,” Phelps said. “We’re a tourist town. We want people to come. We want them to enjoy the island. And now, we’re telling them to stay away.”

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steve.stroud@latimes.com

deborah.schoch@latimes.com

Stroud reported from Two Harbors and Schoch from Los Angeles.