Power Outages Hit Thousands In LA As Heat Wave Strains Electrical Equipment

LOS ANGELES, CA — Thousands of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers were without electricity Thursday as extreme heat and humidity strained electrical equipment across the city, prompting the utility to renew its call for customers to conserve energy.

Numerous outages were reported across Los Angeles early Thursday afternoon, with thousands of customers affected in the Central, South and Northeast areas of the city, according to the LADWP outage map.

The utility said crews were responding to localized neighborhood outages caused by overloaded electrical equipment. Response times were running between four and 12 hours from when an outage occurred, although DWP said many customers would have their power restored sooner.

More than 90 field crews have been deployed across the city, DWP said. Crews worked overnight to restore electricity to affected neighborhoods, prioritizing the oldest outages first.

The outages come a day after DWP asked customers to reduce electricity use during peak afternoon and evening hours as temperatures climbed into the triple digits across parts of Los Angeles.

The region remains in the grip of an intense heat wave. Temperatures reached triple digits in parts of Los Angeles Wednesday and unusually high humidity adding to the strain. The National Weather Service said the heat wave was expected to peak Wednesday and Thursday, with temperatures climbing as high as 108 degrees in some areas and little overnight relief.

LADWP thanked customers who conserved electricity Wednesday and again asked customers, particularly those on the Westside, to reduce energy use while unusually high temperatures persist.

Customers are being asked to avoid running major appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers when possible. LADWP previously recommended setting thermostats to 78 degrees, delaying use of large appliances until early morning or later in the evening and turning off unused lights and electronics.

Extreme heat can place added stress on electrical equipment, particularly when overnight temperatures remain high and equipment has little opportunity to cool.

Customers who lose power can report an outage by calling 1-800-DIAL-DWP.

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