Overnight storm knocks out power

Thousands of Newport-Mesa residents were temporarily without electricity late Tuesday and early Wednesday when an overnight thunderstorm shook electrical transformers and caused some intersection signals to malfunction.

By Wednesday afternoon, only a few hundred throughout Orange County were left without power, and all of it was expected to be restored by nightfall, according to representatives from Southern California Edison.

But overnight, the situation was worse. Edison officials had told police up to 3,000 Newport Beach residents lost electricity, police said. Public safety officials from Costa Mesa and Newport Beach said they saw a marked increase in calls to authorities, as several transformers in the two cities blew up.

One lightning bolt struck a palm tree in the 2900 block of Cliff Drive, igniting it, police said.

Authorities said no one was injured from the weather and Edison officials said their technicians are standing by to fix weather-related problems as they happen.

— Joseph Serna