Dark rooms and confusion were the sights at City College and all of San Diego county Sept. 8 at about 3:40 p.m. as 1.4 million San Diego Gas & Electric customers lost power.
Campus police could be seen checking elevators and rooms throughout campus to make sure everyone was safe. There was at least one case of a person being trapped in an elevator.
Officer A. Cervantes, of campus police, happened to be riding the elevator in the T building when he found himself stuck inside, when the black out began. Shortly after Cervantes forced open the doors with a utility knife and escaped unharmed.
Cervantes was also able to confirm from radio chatter that power was out through out San Diego county.
Within hours of the black out all remaining classes were canceled, the campus closed and notifications sent to students and faculty. As a safety precaution The San Diego Community College District canceled classes for Sept. 9 as well. Classes will continue as usual starting Sept. 10.
According to SDG&E’s Twitter account, power was restored to all substations with in 12 hours of the black out, restoring power to most of the 1.4 million customers.
The black out is being blamed on an interruption of a high voltage line feeding power to Southern California substations from Arizona. SDG&E had said that the exact cause will not be known for some time.
The black out affected San Diego and Orange counties, Baja California and Arizona.