Updated: Power Restored to 2,100 Highland Park Residents: Minor Gold Line Delays to Last a Few Weeks

About 2,100 DWP customers in the 200 block of North Avenue 61 in Highland Park went without power for several hours early Sunday—and power outages are still occurring in a few areas of the city of Los Angeles, according to a DWP spokesperson.

The power in Highland Park was restored around 6 a.m. today, Maychelle Yee, a spokesperson in the DWP's public affairs office told Eagle Rock Patch, adding that no areas of Eagle Rock have been affected.

Yee said she wouldn't be able to ascertain before Monday just when the outage began, but that it was probably before 4 a.m. today. The loss of power was "most probably because of the stormy weather," she said, adding that the outage in Highland Park was "restored very quickly—our workers were out there in the storm making sure that they get power back to our customers."

Some Highland Park residents reported hearing the sound of hearing transformer boxes exploding and losing power shortly thereafter as early as 2 a.m. on Twitter.

The outages also caused Gold Line Services between the stop at  Southwest Museum of the American Indian and the Del Mar stop in Pasadena to be suspended late last night and early into this moring.

As of this afternoon, abbreviated service had resumed between the Southwest Museum and Del Mar stops.

According to Los Angeles Community News Service, passengers wanting to ride the northern branch of the Gold Line, which runs from Union Station to Pasadena, can expect the trains to run every 30 minutes. Those trains will run at a reduced speed of 5 miles per hour where opposing trains must share the single operating track, at Highland Park.

Fortunately, the rains that are likely to continue in Los Angles for another few days are not the first of the season, Yee pointed out. "Usually it is the first rains and heavy winds that cause the outages," she explained. "But because we are already several rains into the season and the winds were not that hard—that's probably what saved us from a lot of outages."

Yee wasn't certain if traffic signals in Highland Park were also affected by the power outage. "Most likely the traffic signals went out if the power went out in the area," she said, adding: "Even though the power is restored, sometimes the Department of Transportation has to go out to the location to reset each signal light one by one."

Yee said a power outage in Sherman Oaks last night is "still occurring" because power cables in the area are underground and "a little more difficult" to get at. In addition to Sherman Oaks, about 1,000 DWP customers are currently without power in South L.A., Yee said.

But given that DWP serves some 1.4 million customers in the City of Los Angeles, the number of people affected by the outages since last night is miniscule, Yee said.

Update: As of 3:30 p.m. power issues with the Metro Gold Line between the Southwest Museum in Highland Park and the Del Mar Stop in Pasadena have been resolved, according to MBTA officials. Two additional trains have been added for every 15 minute service and single tracking has been canceled. Normal service is expected to resume tomorrow. 

Update: According to MBTA Rail Operations Director Bruce Shelbourne, a Metro Gold Line traction power substation incurred serious damage Saturday evening as a result of service interruption at the Pasadena Water and Power Department.

Though Metro crews were able to make adequate repairs to provide a reduced service to Gold Line users, Shelbourne said riders should not expect repairs to be complete for several weeks. As a result, Gold Line service between the Southwest Museum and the Del Mar Station in Pasadena will be running at reduced speeds.

Shelbourne told riders to expect three to five-minute delays during that time.