Blackouts hit Newport-Mesa

Deepa Bharath, Stefanie Frith and Mathis Winkler

NEWPORT-MESA -- Computer screens went blank, air conditioners failed,

shoppers shopped in darkness, and commuters maneuvered through dead

traffic lights.

It all happened over a period of seven hours Monday, and although

officials said there were no major incidents, parts of Newport Beach and

Costa Mesa definitely felt the effect of the first rolling blackouts to

hit the cities.Sparked by the loss of two power generators in Southern

California and rising temperatures, officials said the first of the local

blackouts hit Newport Beach in the areas of Ford Road and the

intersection of Bonita Canyon and Mesa View drives at noon.

Other shutdowns that followed at about 2:45 p.m. affected most

businesses in Fashion Island, including Barnes & Noble Booksellers and

Edwards Theaters. Spared were Bloomingdale’s, Neiman Marcus, the food

court and some smaller stores.

Traffic lights also failed in some areas off Jamboree Road and around

north Newport Beach, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Steve Shulman.

“There were no traffic accidents or backups or problems related to

these outages,” he said. “Mostly, it was just people calling to let us

know what lights weren’t working.”

Two blackouts occurred in Costa Mesa, one between 4:45 and 5:45 p.m.

on the city’s east side and the other from about 6 to 7 p.m. east of

Bristol Street and Sunflower Avenue. Police reported no major incidents,

except for a man stuck in his apartment elevator.

The Newport Beach Fire and Marine Department responded to two calls in

Fashion Island, where people were stuck in elevators, said Newport Beach

Fire and Marine Capt. John Blauer.

“We just calmed them down and let them know that the power would come

back on in a short while,” he said. “We got by today without major

incidents.”

It was some day for the 120,000 customers of Southern California

Edison who were affected by the electricity service interruption.

The warm weather increased Monday’s energy demand by 1,200 megawatts, equivalent to the energy produced in one of the state’s nuclear power

plant units, said James Detmer, vice president of operations for the

California Independent System Operator.

The city of Newport Beach did escape without its water or sewer

systems being shut off, said Eldon Davidson, utilities director.

“Most of our facilities are in good shape,” he said. “In the event of

an outage, we do have backup pumps and generators.”

But others weren’t as fortunate. Inside Macy’s at Fashion Island in

Newport Beach, sales associates waved green glow sticks to usher people

through the dark store.

“We just happened to have these,” sales associate Christina Castro

said. “It’s really dark back in the bathrooms. We didn’t know the lights

were going to go out. Then, poof, they did.”

Over at Priorities -- a women’s boutique -- manager Norma Bustos said

she was not surprised by the blackout because Fashion Island management

has been warning the businesses for the past few months that it could

happen.

“It was definitely a relief when the lights came back on though,”

Bustos said. “We are lucky that we have a small boutique, so we were able

to keep an eye on everyone while they were in the store.”

At April Cornell, no one happened to be in the women’s and children’s

clothing store at the time of the blackout, which manager Laura Zovich

said was a small blessing.

“We definitely lost business though,” Zovich said. “We couldn’t do

anything except wait for the lights to come back on. It’s better than it

happening on a weekend though.”

Meanwhile, local businesses are going on conservation mode.

In Fashion Island, center officials said they had started early by

cutting down on lighting and turning off fountains during nonbusiness

hours to conserve energy, said Jennifer Smith, a spokeswoman for the

Irvine Co., which owns Fashion Island.

She added that similar conservation programs were also in place at

other company shopping centers, such as Corona del Mar Plaza.

Faced with possible blackouts, other companies in Newport Beach said

they introduced energy conservation measures Monday.

While Conexant Systems Inc. -- a chip maker with headquarters near

John Wayne Airport -- had not been hit by early afternoon, company

officials said energy consumption had been reduced to a minimum.

Shutting down air conditioning, turning off overhead lighting in

buildings and encouraging employees to use lower lighting in offices were

some of the ways in which the company was trying to avoid a blackout,

said Lisa Briggs, a company spokeswoman.

She added that the company had also shut down machines in the

manufacturing area and had not begun producing some new products.