A faulty transformer caused power outages in the Downey and Norwalk areas, affecting tens of thousands of customers on Christmas Eve.
An outage was reported in Downey at 1:35 p.m., affecting 24,187 customers, according to Southern California Edison’s outage status website. The power outages were blamed on “storm conditions” and were expected to be restored to most customers by 5 a.m. on Christmas Day.
National Weather Service forecasters expected light rain to fall in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, then dry up by the evening.
An additional 12,437 customers lost power in an unincorporated area near Ada S. Nelson Elementary School in Whittier.
Edison spokesman Jeff Monford told the Times that a transformer failure caused power outages in Downey and Norwalk just before 3 p.m., but power was restored to most customers earlier in the day. Ta. “We know that any outage is a disaster,” Monford said, adding that crews will work to restore power as quickly as possible.
