San Diego Power Outage, 2011
3:40 p.m. - I was just about to leave the school after another long, HOT day. It's been a never-ending week. I know, I know- all my Texas friends - three days of 104 heat isn't anything to complain about after the summer you've had. But, hear me out. There's AC in every classroom at the school, but nothing in the front office where I work. Nada. San Diegans are not prepared for hot weather, because let's face it - we're spoiled! So, I've spent all week in that front office hot, exhausted and with a headache.
I had just packed up and was walking out to my car after the boys finished their yoga class. I overheard Mrs. Judy say the power was out. Ugh. At least the day was over and it didn't matter since we were all going home. I piled the boys in the car and promised to get them an Icee at Burger King. I pulled out of the parking lot and immediately noticed an unusual amount of traffic. I looked around and could see that the two gas stations next door and Burger King had no power either. Everything was dark inside and people were coming out. Okay, so there was obviously a block or so in the grid without power. Oh well. To home, I'd go -- with two sad boys that were anticipating an Icee.
I checked my phone and had two missed calls and a text from Dusty. I read, "I just got home. The power's out."
Hmm. Home is twenty minutes from the school. Bizarre that the power would be out there, too.
I tried to call Dusty but it went to straight to voicemail. A moment later I received another text, "Cell phones, data and calls are down -- no wifi!! Radio stations out... Go to my parents ASAP ok? Everything's out everywhere."
Just a quick side note -- Dusty and I have a plan that if there's ever an emergency and we cannot get ahold of one another to go directly to his parents house. For instance, if there's ever a fire or something and then everyone will already be in one place. Anyway, back to my story -- I was driving and also noticed the traffic lights were out, people were frantically attempting to use their cell phones and everyone looked completely confused. It was one of the most eerie moments I can remember. What was going on??
All I could do is drive, with no information, to my in-law's house. I found one radio station that was working because of their back up generator. Even still, it was just speculative ramble -- no one knew what was happening. There was definitely a sense of panic. People from all over were calling in reporting no power- from Mexico, Palm Springs, Orange County, Arizona -- what on earth?
Drive. Keep driving. Don't panic. One of the eeriest things was feeling totally alone with no information and not being able to make a phone call. All I could do was rely on myself to get us to Dusty's parents house. As I was driving I saw some fires and just had no grasp on if this was something really dangerous or not. How does the power go out in an entire city -- make that, two states and Mexico and there was no natural disaster going on?
Enough drama. It turned out some guy - yes, one guy in Yuma, AZ, was responsible for the whole mess. "The outage occurred after an electrical worker removed a piece of monitoring equipment at a power substation in southwest Arizona, officials at Phoenix-based Arizona Public Service Co. said. It was unclear why that mishap, which normally would have been isolated locally, sparked such a widespread outage. The company said that would be the focus of a probe. The outage knocked out power in a region of almost 6 million people in the Southwest, bringing San Diego to a near-standstill and leaving people in the surrounding desert to swelter in late-summer heat." - NBC San Diego
So, on the day that I wanted to go home and go to bed - I had already told Dusty I didn't want to cook and how about a pizza night - my plans were destroyed. But, what came out of this giant mess was an awesome night. The kids were HOT - remember, 104 and no AC - so we broke out the slip and slide. What'd we eat for dinner you ask, with no restaurants open, grocery stores closed and no stove? Nate whipped out the grill and cooked! Dusty and I knew it would be cooler at his parents and didn't want to fight traffic going home, sooo - we so happened to have our awesome tent in his parent's garage. The boys, Dusty and I slept in the tent, in the front yard. I think the boys thought it was single handedly, the best day ever. And, I do have to agree - it turned about to be pretty darn fun. Oh yeah, and I totally forgot the fire and campfire stories. Yep - Silas' idea. Silas wanted to tell stories around the fire and was so excited to tell his story. It was too cute for words. Great idea, Si!
We were told the power would probably not be back on until the following night. Luckily, it came on much sooner. The boys and I had already drifted off to sleep in the tent when we heard cheers from the house (and throughout the neighborhood) when the power re-surfaced. Priceless.
And that, my friends, is the story of the San Diego (Southern California, Arizona, & Mexico) Power Outage 2011.
1 Comments
Looks like a blast; leave it to Si to think up a good idea
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