Extreme heat strains the power grid and causes outages through Los Angeles County
The dangerously hot weather strained the power grid to failure throughout Los Angeles County on Friday, the peak of the record-setting heat wave.
"Extreme heat has caused power outages in some neighborhoods. @LADWP crews are working to restore power quickly and safely," Mayor Karen Bass posted on X. High temperatures are expected to sustain for the next three days."
Since Wednesday, most of the region has endured an excessive heat warning, bringing "dangerously hot conditions" that have sparked widespread wildfire concerns in LA, Ventura, and Santa Barbara counties. The triple-digit temperatures set records throughout Southern California, including 114 degrees in Burbank, which tied its daily, monthly and all-time highs.
The sweat-inducing weather caused more than 16,500 outages in the City of LA alone. It strained Glendale and Pasadena's grid to their breaking points. Pasadena instituted rolling outages for an hour in the late afternoon while crews repaired equipment. Residents in the San Fernando Valley, where temperatures consistently reached above 100 degrees, bore the brunt of the outages, with dozens scattered around the area.
However, the single-largest outage affected close to 3,300 customers in the neighborhoods surrounding USC.
"Power on the [University Park] Campus is currently operational. LADWP is working to restore service. It is unknown at this time how long the outage will last," officials wrote in the alert. "Please check with LADWP for updates."
On Saturday afternoon, Torrance city officials issued an alert to residents to inform them that many in the city were experiencing outages and that while repairs were underway, the issue would not be fixed until 7 p.m. at the earliest.
While the outages affected thousands in Los Angeles, the statewide grid remained stable, with California ISO expecting enough power to cover the increased demands.
"With cooler weather on the way, the California ISO power grid remains stable and sufficient supplies are projected to cover demand through [Saturday]," the agency tweeted.
On Sunday at around 5 p.m., LADWP officials said that more than 70,000 customers had to have their power restored at some point during the heat wave over the weekend.
At the latest, around 15,200 are still without power. They said that crews were actively working to get power restored to all of their customers. The communities most impacted are Harvard Park, Hollywood and Northridge, LADWP said.
With the sweltering weather continuing to affect the region late Sunday evening, and power outages still lingering, The Hollywood Bowl was forced to cancel their scheduled performance from Vance Joy, Grouplove and Tiny Habits.
Meteorologists expect the heat wave to end Monday night.
