Multiple power outages continued into the evening for thousands of San Diego Gas & Electric customers as the ongoing heat wave caused record highs to fall in parts of San Diego County.
More than 5,500 residents remained without power late Saturday, from Fallbrook to communities southeast of downtown San Diego, including Valencia Park and Encanto.
Some outages, in parts of Carlsbad, El Cajon, Oceanside and Santee, affected only a handful of residents by 10 p.m. But hundreds of others remained without power in each of several communities, including La Jolla, Pacific Beach and Valencia Park, while nearly 2,000 continued to deal with outages in an area stretching from Normal Heights to Golden Hill.
The utility, according to its online outage map, projects that some of the communities won’t see power restored until mid-morning Sunday.
In some cases, the excessive heat effected equipment and caused power outages. Around 9,500 customers were affected.
The largest outages were in Chula Vista, East Ramona and Pine Valley, NBC7 San Diego reported.
Meanwhile, San Diego and Chula Vista set record highs, according to the National Weather Service.
San Diego’s high temperature of 95 degrees Saturday broke the 1998 record of 92, while Chula Vista’s high of 96 broke the 1955 record of 94.
Forecasters say the heat wave over the county will continue into next week.
The NWS issued an excessive heat warning, extending from Saturday until 8 p.m. Tuesday for coastal areas, valleys, mountains and deserts.
For the fifth straight day, a Flex Alert will be in effect Sunday seeking voluntary power conservation to reduce strain on the state’s electrical grid at a time when near triple-digit temperatures continues to drive up air conditioner use.
The California Independent System Operator — which manages the state’s power grid — issued the first Flex Alert of the week on Wednesday, urging residents to reduce electricity use from 4 to 9 p.m. Additional Flex Alerts have been issued for the same hours each day since Wednesday.
– Staff and wire reports