Power restored for impacted areas in Downey after massive outage affected thousands of SCE customers

DOWNEY, Calif. (KABC) -- Power was restored Wednesday morning to all impacted areas in Downey after a massive outage affected thousands of Southern California Edison customers.

A transformer failure at a SCE substation in the Downey/Norwalk area led to a widespread power outage in multiple cities on Tuesday.

The outage occurred around 1:30 p.m. and affected more than 31,000 customers, according to SCE.

"We know that every outage is a hardship (and) crews are working as quickly as they can to safely restore power," SCE spokesman Jeff Monford said.

He said crews were able to re-route power to get most impacted customers back online relatively quickly.

Metro C (Green) Line trains were halted between the Norwalk and Willowbrook/Rosa Parks stations due to the power issue. Buses were brought in to shuttle passengers between the stations, according to the transit agency.

There were also reports of traffic lights being out at multiple intersections and shopping centers closed as a result of the power outage. It was unclear exactly how far the outage spread, but there were reports of electricity being out in areas including Santa Fe Springs, Bellflower, Whittier, Compton, Lakewood Paramount and South Gate.

The outage couldn't have come at a worse time for those doing their last-minute shopping and those at home preparing for a Christmas Eve celebration. Sales were being done by candlelight at a Harbor Freight Tools store in Downey after thousands suddenly lost power.

"We're actually picking up some lights for our elderly neighbor. We have a generator but they have no electricity. We don't want them to fall or not being able to use the restroom. So this is amazing that they're open and helping out the community," said customer Amy Martinez.

"It's a Christmas different from all the others but we just have to make the best of it. It's going to be a good experience just to be with the family and the dog," said Norwalk resident Omar Perez.

SCE said they are working as fast as they can to restore the power to the remaining affected customers.

"I needed light, my neighbors needed light and I'm not going to let a power outage or some rain get me down Christmas Eve," said Downey resident Dee Marie Spence. "I'm going to spend some Christmas cheer by giving these lights out."

City News Service Inc. contributed to this report