September 8, 2011 BLACK OUT! My power's back on so I can blog. Real OC News

A little after 3:30 pm PST in South Orange County, CA: Electricity gone.

Arizona, California, and Mexico affected by a major black out. September 8, 2011 

Blinking lights by San Clemente High School; traffic and stressed drivers.

A little too scary for the town of San Clemente, that just yesterday dealt with a bomb threat at a local high school. Turned out no explosives were found. Now on the second day of school here in Orange County, California a major black out occured this afternoon until about 8pm tonight and in many parts the electricity is out still all over Orange County, San Diego County, parts of the state of Arizona, and even in Mexico.

Heavy traffic and stressed drivers in OC after black out.

Grocery store employee informs customers that store is closed.

Based on news reports that I heard a major electrical line in Arizona was damaged. This caused widespread electrical outage. But the fear of things here in Orange County, especially after a bomb threat, makes people anxious, especially close to upcoming 9-11, a remembrance day, the day when the Twin Towers were destroyed in New York and thousands of US citizens died. I immediately bought bags of ice as they were melting already all over the store of the grocery store that had 20 minutes of electrical generator going for people to shop quick. Not knowing yet what was going on.. expect that the power was out "...all over." Finally I heard a radio station reporting on the situation (here in Orange County it is on station 101.5 fm), my neighbor listening attentively. They don't know if it was intentional damage to the power or not. Some people in southern California also had to conserve water, due to water pump situation if they live at higher elevation. It eased my mind later to hear all should be well by tomorrow sometime. The school district in my home area sent an automated phone message that there will be no school tomorrow, September 9th. Some areas do not have power and also the difficulty to get gas.

Sheriff patrolling San Clemente, CA area.

While I felt almost prepared for the evening, my food packed with ice, I hand lit my stove to heat up some left overs, and my candles shining, the neighborhood kids had fun under a beautiful full moon, God knew we needed the extra light tonight. A group of kids role played outside in the dark, under the moonlight with swords (of the plastic nature). I came out with my flashlight... someone needed to be sheriff. Of course, I was just wanting to have fun too! It was nice to see the kids embracing the change: no TV, computer or video games. 

Good Stuff Store: Everything 99 kept business going with a few lights/pay by cash.

Then in the middle of making dinner, after slicing celery in the dark, poof! The lights were on in my neighborhood. It was like a horray! Then, awe... I was having fun though! I had just searched for all my candles and was just about ready to make it through the night. My man scurried just about all over Orange County to get more supplies and gas for his can and mine. Earlier, I actually saw a handful of cars that were stuck at a gas station hoping to get a hold of someone that could bring them gas. I myself was right at "E". Word of mouth was going around about where to go, I just backed my car out and headed home before I ended up stuck. Hope this all gets fixed and we get some normalcy here in OC soon.
Update 9-9-11, black out fixed in SDGE service areas here.

 

God lit up the night sky, the stars could be seen better without the street lights.

• http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20110908/california-onofre-nuclear-plant-power-outage-110908/
• Update 9-9-2011  http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/09/blackout-affected-5-million-people-in-california-agency-says/
• See related Alysa Good Stuff blog post: Sept. 7, 2011 Bomb Threat at San Clemente High School; The Real Orange County, CA