Dozens of households in Los Angeles spent much of Tuesday without power when a blackout hit part of Pacific Palisades during a summer heat wave, PaliPost reported.
Electricity did not return to the Riviera neighborhood until late Tuesday night, leaving 52 homes without key services for more than 18 hours.
What happened?
According to PaliPost, the outage began around 4 a.m. Tuesday in a pocket of Pacific Palisades near the Brentwood border, and service was not restored until 10:15 p.m.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said, via PaliPost, 52 households were affected and that crews stayed on the job into the evening repairing damaged underground equipment along Amalfi Drive.
With unreliable cell service and a lack of air conditioning as temperatures rose, many residents left their homes to find relief at nearby coffee shops and restaurants to cool off and get online.
Why is this concerning?
When homes lose air conditioning during a heat wave, indoor temperatures can rise quickly, increasing the risk of heat exhaustion, dehydration, and other serious health problems. Beyond cooling, inconsistent cell service also made it harder for residents to stay in touch with others.
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Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and severe. They endanger people by putting more strain on aging infrastructure and disrupting work and school. These events can threaten public health, community safety, and financial stability all at once.
Communities are responding to rising temperatures with more resilient energy systems as cities across the country face similar pressure. Making clean energy less expensive for people to use is a big part of creating those systems.
What's being done?
Crews worked for several hours to restore electricity and repair the damaged underground equipment.
A basic heat emergency plan can include identifying nearby cooling spaces, keeping electronics charged, and storing water, flashlights, and backup supplies for medications that may need refrigeration.
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Households may also consider steps like home weatherization. There may also be incentives available on the local or state levels to help you benefit even more from those upgrades.
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