The Day/Night San Diego Went Black!!!

So… complete darkness sucks sometimes. Especially when you’re two days from going a week without pumping out new bloggy greatness for my oh so faithful followers (14 and growing….YESSS!!! THANKS SANDRA!!!). on the bright side (pun intended) this did give me a few things, i.e. a recent event to talk about and a chance to spend some good old quality time without the world of technology breathing down my neck, begging me to watch an idiot box, or play Plants VS Zombies (the one with Michael Jackson doing his Thriller thing). I actually spent some time talking to a live human (yes, I do more than just troll the internet for new blogs and “stumble upon” greatness), and not just any human, my amazing wife Anya. I’m getting ahead of myself though let me bring you back to the beginning of this long, ridiculous, horrible turned pretty awesome day/night also known as 9/8/2011 “The Great San Diego Blackout” (as some reporters called it).

The day started off innocently enough, I woke up at 6am for another “crap-tacular” day of work with one of the shittiest HVAC companies I have ever had the misfortune of working for (whom I started working for the day prior and will leave nameless because they aren’t worth the rest of the sentence). If you don’t already know, and why would you, I’m a union sheet metal apprentice, but I digress. So the remainder of the work day was really uneventful, but outstandingly hot! San Diego had been in a kind of heat wave (well, anything above 75 is considered a heat wave for us), though this time it was pretty hot, a blistering 93 degrees according to my smart phone. This was far better than the previous day, which was the same but it was extremely humid and sticky. I was getting more irritated by the second, because they had me, a 6’1”, 240lb guy, crawling in between duct work that a person half my size would have trouble with. Now, I’m not an obese individual, I like to say that I have the body of a Greek god, when in actuality I’m just short of Belushi from Animal House (ok, I’m not that big either but 240 at 6’1”…you do the math), so needless to say it was kind of a tight fit. That, along with being in a room that is roughly the size of an entertainment center with 4 other guys….yeah, bad times my friends…bad times indeed.

Ten minutes till the end of the day my “boss”, the schmuck, calls me over to another room to deliver some news… he laid myself and 2 other guys off because he had no more work. Like I said, I had only been working for him for a day, so I was both upset and extremely relieved. So, there I was tired, dirty and unemployed, but my day wasn’t even close to finished yet…. I had class that night. I started my drive at around 3:40pm and noticed a couple the lights were blinking and traffic was on slo-mo, yet I still got to class around my normal time, so I didn’t think anything of it. That’s when I got the news about the blackout. Now you would think that since most of San Diego had no power school would be out, right? WRONG!!! While all the other classes were being released (because that’s the thing you do when you have no power), my teacher gets the bright idea to bring out a lantern and make us wait about 20 minutes after everyone left to let us sign out. DICK!!! That started my travel back to my house.

The drive took me about an hour to get 5 miles (yes I can hear my LA readers laughing as this is the norm, but not for us here in SD, where everything takes maybe 15 to 20 minutes at most from the center of town to ANYWHERE). During this hour I contemplated pulling a scene from Falling Down, and just going ape shit on traffic, but that would get me home no quicker so I decided against that plan. Instead I made it home and tried to change so I could run to the farmers market to eat from a food truck, which was probably the only source of food I could’ve bought. I say this because most of them now have that little credit card reader app for their phones, and I had no cash. This however didn’t happen because I didn’t want to get back on the road after getting to my house, so we decided to throw a blackout bbq at our house. We invited a few friends to help celebrate the night and to keep us company, but because a lot of the cell phones were down due to either signal issues or not being charged, no one got the message. Yep, we ended up alone, but hey we made the most of it.

I threw some mesquite charcoal on the grill and tossed some Italian sausages, burgers, rib eye steaks, some white corn niblets and some beans with kale and I reheated some ribs too (ok, so I don’t know how to cook for two people, so what!?). I also set up a little fire-pit for some extra light. That with my led tap lights allowed me to light up my front yard enough to cook and eat in style. Of course, with any blackout the helicopters were out. You know, to keep the looters in check. While they were flying over head they would flash their lights, checking to make sure things were ok, and every time they did I would toss lighter fluid on my fire-pit and dance like a little indigenous warrior (I bet if I was naked I would have gotten the chopper to flash it’s lights my way, that shit would’ve been hilarious!). When I was finished cooking I set up a nice little table with candles, cider and of course the food. I also had a few strategically placed LED lights that would shine directly on the plates so that way we could see everything. I would’ve put some music on the phone but it needed to be charged and the radio stations where all pretty much down except for news, and something tells me that’s not really a mood setter.

After our delicious, romantic dinner by campfire light, we decided to watch a movie on the Zune. So we went to the car so it would be like the drive in, but I ended up turning on the radio for a second to see what the eta would be for getting our power back on (because some of us had blogs to write), and to find out what caused all of San Diego from the coast to Yuma, AZ and from TJ up to San Clemente to be in the dark. From the broadcast, I found out that it was rumored to be an electrical worker from AZ that tripped up (wow….way to go Arizona), and some parts of the city might not get power back until sometime the following day, as they were slowly getting power back to the 1.4 . We were fortunate enough to get ours back on around 11:30pm, and the roar of cheers for the return of power could be heard for blocks. It was pretty crazy. Here is what signonsandiego.com had to say about the events…

A widespread power outage led to controlled chaos Thursday throughout San Diego County, Baja California, part of Arizona and other areas as about 5 million people coped with the sudden loss of electricity. San Diego Gas & Electric officials said the power system is still fragile even as the power is back on in this region.
The outage began at 3:38 p.m. after a 500-kilovolt high-voltage transmission line from Arizona to California failed, triggering a cascade of events that then knocked the San Onofre nuclear power plant offline. Those are the two major power sources for the region.
SDG&E said 1.4 million of its customers in San Diego and Orange counties were affected, as well as residents east into Arizona and south into Baja California. The power failure led to school and business closures, suspended water service in some areas, flight cancellations, blacked-out traffic lights, silent radio stations and trapped elevator passengers. Public schools throughout the county and several higher-education institutions are closed Friday.
Power came back on in Orange County and small pockets of San Diego County by late Thursday evening, with the restoration occurring first in outlying areas of the San Diego region as roughly 115 power substations were rebooted one by one.
There were no significant reports of crime although some outage-related traffic accidents happened throughout the county. San Diego police put more officers on the street to help direct and monitor traffic, respond to calls and keep an eye out for looters who may want to take advantage of the dark.
Mike Niggli, president and chief operating officer for San Diego Gas & Electric, said he found out about the power failure at the same time as everyone else.
"The lights in the office went out with no warning at all," he said. "I started at SDG&E in 1971 and I have never been in a situation like this."
The investigation into the cause of the power failure could take months, utility experts said. At this point, the Service utility company said the outage began after one of its employees performed a procedure on the North Gila-Hassayampa transmission line near Yuma, Arizona.
“Essentially we have two connections to the rest of the world — one to the north and one to the east — and both of those connections were severed,” Niggli said. “We actually don’t know what happened to the line. All we know is the line went out.”
The power failure threw a wrench in the everyday life of a modern society that is heavily dependent on electricity. Commerce ground to a halt as gas stations and other businesses closed their doors. Residents familiar with breezy San Diego temperatures scrambled to buy ice and other comforts to cope with a continuing heat wave.
Peggy Gimbel, who had to pry open her garage door to get out of her Carlsbad home, called the break from power “peaceful” as she sat at a nail salon. She said the outage shows the fragility of the region’s energy system.
“It’s a fact of life. We are dependent upon things,” Gimbel said. About dealing with the lack of electricity, she said, “You put on your big girl pants and deal with it.”
For some, the outage’s proximity to the 10-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks caused worry.
“It’s the worst day of the year. ... It’s just freaky that is was so close to 9/11,” said Kim Conway, who was shopping at a San Marcos grocery store. Her cart was filled with beer and alcohol as she and her neighbors prepared for an impromptu block party in the dark.
Transportation in all its forms was hit or miss, depending on if the mode required electricity to operate.
Inbound flights continued at Lindbergh Field but outbound flights were halted. Officials advised passengers to check their flight's status on Friday before heading to the airport.
The Metropolitan Transit Service halted trolleys, which require electricity to run, but pressed every available bus into service. Coaster and Sprinter trains continued to run late Thursday as well as Amtrak.
Public-transportation officials expected bus, trolley and train service to resume Friday, but cautioned travelers to be prepared for delays or limited service in some areas.
Heavy traffic was reported throughout the county’s roadways Thursday as darkened stoplights slowed traffic amid a mass exodus of drivers headed home once the power went out. Gas stations were mostly closed as they had no power to pump fuel and no means of processing transactions.
California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Pennings said gridlock ensued minutes after the outage and there were several reports of drivers illegally running through intersections.
“People are forgetting that when power is out at an intersection, it is a stop sign,” he said. “We’re having crashes because people are blowing through these intersections as if it’s a green light.”
Hospitals around the county continue to operate with backup generators, and officials at several facilities said patients weren’t in any danger.
The outage also led to roughly 70 elevator rescues as an unknown number of people became stranded across the county. Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, said firefighters responded to calls with medical emergencies first and began responding to the rest of those trapped in elevators about 6:45 p.m. Many of the rescues were requested in downtown and University City areas, where there are taller buildings.
Luque cautioned residents to call for help only if there was an emergency.
“Don’t call 911 unnecessarily,” he said. “Legitimate emergency calls can’t get through.”
Another major concern was water. The supply from the San Diego County Water Authority remains stable and safe, but some San Diego city residents may have difficulty accessing water as several pump stations are without power. City officials said some customers could see a significant drop in water pressure and urged residents to conserve.
Not everyone was left in the dark. Several homes, government buildings and businesses, including casinos and The San Diego Union-Tribune, had power thanks to backup generators.
The power failure also left Friday’s opening of businesses and public facilities up in the air as electricity may or may not be restored yet to some areas. The tendency was to preemptively cancel events.
The outage occurred on the final day of a heat wave that sent temperatures eight to 12 degrees above normal. Temperatures shot into the upper 90s and low 100s across inland valleys and foothills, and as high as 114 in the local desert. The weather was even stifling at the coast due to the lack of a sea breeze. By midafternoon, the temperature had hit 89 in Chula Vista and 88 in Encinitas.
The National Weather Service in San Diego said temperatures will be moderate on Friday, rising to the mid-80s and low 90s across inland valleys and foothills, the 80s in local mountains, and the low-to-mid 70s at the coast.
                So, as you can see Sept. 8th 2011 is a day that will go down in San Diego history as one of its darkest days….THANKS AGAIN ARIZONA….just one more reason to cross that state off my “must visit” list. First reason; they don’t like Mexicans….I’M MEXICAN YO!!! Anyways, here are a few videos about the blackout so you can see some of what we went through! Thanks again for visiting and come back   next week for more!

-Editor & Chief of the Penguin Gazette,

Rudy

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