Mylar Balloon Knocks Out Power To Thousands In Costa Mesa, Newport Beach
COSTA MESA (CBSLA) — A mylar balloon was blamed Wednesday for knocking out power to thousands of Southern California Edison customers in Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.
Two outages were reported in the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach areas just before 1:30 a.m., according to Gabriela Ornelas of SoCal Edison. Costa Mesa police reported one of the outages was due to a blown transformer in the area of East 17th Street between Newport Boulevard and Santa Ana Avenue, south to 15th Street and north to 19th Street.
SoCal Edison says 3,470 customers lost power initially, but power was restored to all but 805 customers by 12:30 p.m. All power is expected to be restored by 3:30 p.m., Ornelas said.
Metallic mylar balloons in equipment were cited as the reason for the outage on SoCal Edison's outage map. Such balloons have been blamed for a number of power outages, including one in La Puente that led to a gas leak, and the sale of them has been banned in Glendale.
According to California law, mylar balloons must be sold with a weight to keep it from flying away and possibly cause a power outage. Such balloons are also prohibited from being released outdoors.
Mylar balloons should be punctured before being disposed of in the trash.
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)