Power Failures Orange County

A rare thunderstorm brought lightning, hail and heavy rain to Orange County on Friday night, making roads treacherous, though no serious injuries were reported. Within the first 15 minutes of the downpour, more than a dozen minor accidents were reported to the California Highway Patrol, followed by scores more on streets across the county.

Hot on the heels of a serious case of June gloom, seemingly sweltering temperatures hit Tuesday, and Orange County residents did what they could to escape the heat. Many cranked up their air conditioners and clicked on their fans for relief, which may have contributed to a power outage in Irvine that left 5,000 customers without electricity for almost five hours. "It was really hot out there," said Tom Boyd, spokesman for Southern California Edison.

An electrical outage left about 1,100 customers in the dark Saturday evening, including the Westminster Police Department. Southern California Edison workers were repairing a downed power line near Richardson Way and 24th Street and a transformer problem at Hoover Street and Westminster Boulevard on Saturday night, utility spokesman Ray Golden said. They also were trying to determine what caused those problems, and which one--if not both--led to the widespread outage at 5:21 p.m., he said.

A third of Seal Beach was without electrical power for a brief time Tuesday after an underground cable failed, authorities said. Though phones were temporarily out of service at City Hall, there were no serious problems, police said. About 1,300 customers, mainly in Old Town and Marina Hill, were affected by the 11 a.m. blackout, said Steve Hansen, a spokesman for Southern California Edison. Power was restored by 1 p.m. The outage reportedly did not interfere with City Council elections.

Power was restored Monday afternoon to most of the 1,000 households left without electricity after a car crash damaged power lines. Power was returned to most residents about 2 p.m. Monday after more than 100 workers repaired a one-mile stretch of line extending along Myrtle Avenue. Edison crews were still repairing damaged transformers in other neighborhoods. At the height of the outage, about 4,500 households were without power.

A van struck a power pole Wednesday and caused an electrical outage that affected 1,500 Southern California Edison customers, police said. About 12:30 p.m., a 31-year-old man driving a moving van veered into a power pole at Brookhurst Street and Orangethorpe Avenue, causing the outage, authorities said. The driver was not injured, nor was he cited, Police Investigator Lorraine Jones said. Edison spokesman Steven Conroy said power was restored within 30 minutes for most of the customers

Electricity to nearly 4,300 households was restored early Friday morning after a power outage in the area bordering Laguna Niguel and Laguna Beach. The lights were out from 8:11 p.m. Thursday until about 1:30 a.m. Friday The outage occurred when winds blew down two power lines, officials said. The lines touched, triggering a short in the system, said Steve Hansen, Southern California Edison spokesman.

With temperatures expected to push into the low 90s today, Southern California Edison officials concerned about overtaxing the system have recommended that from noon to 6 p.m., customers cut back use of large appliances such as washers, dryers and--perhaps most onerous--large fans and air conditioners. The utility's customers, including 1.

A power failure over the weekend left parts of Golden West College without electricity Monday. For the 4,600 summer school students, that meant many canceled classes, but others went on as scheduled--some under the trees outside on campus. College spokeswoman Wendy Weber said 25% of daytime classes were called off and all evening classes were canceled. About two dozen college employees were dismissed early because the telephones, fax machines and computers didn't work.