PALMDALE – A single-vehicle crash early Saturday morning caused a widespread power outage in downtown Palmdale that was still not complete restored as of 12 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
The collision happened around 3 a.m., when a suspected drunk driver slammed into an electrical transformer box at the corner of 5th Street East and Palmdale Boulevard, authorities said.
The crash caused a small fire, which was quickly extinguished.
But the damage was far reaching.
Several businesses and homes along Palmdale Boulevard, from 5th Street East to as far as 40th Street East, and about a mile north and south of Palmdale Boulevard, were still without power as of Saturday afternoon.
Many streetlights along Palmdale Boulevard were also affected, forcing authorities to post stop signs to assist with traffic flow.
Many businesses in downtown Palmdale simply closed their doors for the day.
The Palmdale Sheriff’s Station was also affected by the power outage and had to resort to using a back-up generator, but not before the outage wreaked havoc on their computers and other electronic equipment.
Power was restored to the Palmdale Station at 6 a.m., officials said.
About 65 customers are still impacted, according to an alert posted on the Southern California Edison website at 12:01 p.m.
Crews are in the process of completing repairs, and the estimated restoration time for all power to the area is 6 a.m. Sunday, according to the Southern California Edison alert.
UPDATED 7/29/12: Power was restored on schedule for all affected areas.
*We will have more information on this story as it becomes available.*
ryenisha jackson says
He was still at the bar waiting for the checkpoint to wrap up lol
jerry says
What ever happened to that checkpoint, or that 14 freeway safety and no drunk driving cooridor..
Abe says
Yep….what great deterrents those checkpoints are!
IamTheBreeze says
So much for the DUI checkpoint last night.
Julie says
Now, we don’t know that for sure, it was an ‘undisclosed’ location..mmmmm hmmmmm