SDG&E Outage Kills Power to 220 S.C. Homes, Shorecliffs School

Shorecliffs Middle School and about 220 homes in northwest San Clemente will be in the dark until about 5:30 or 6 p.m., a San Diego Gas & Electric spokeswoman said Wednesday afternoon.

The power cut off at 2 p.m. because of an emergency maintenance outage, said SDG&E Spokeswoman Allison Zaragoza.

A foreman was inspecting a power pole near the coast in town when he noticed some of the equipment on the pole was posing a safety hazard, she said. Technicians determined the pole needed to be replaced immediately.

Furthermore, Zaragoza said the pole is in an environmentally sensitive area, so staff biologists had to come out to inspect it before work started. Workers can't replace the pole at night because floodlights would disturb a species of butterfly that lives in the area.

Still, SDG&E reached out to Shorecliffs and timed the outage for when students were leaving class, Zaragoza said.