Massive power outage: San Diego is dark- UPDATED (Again)

3 million people are without power right now in San Diego. UPDATE: the outage widens, Widespread power outage reported in Southwest, affecting much of S. California, parts of SW Arizona; includes Phoenix and Northern Baja Mexico.

The officials are finally getting a handle on it:
A massive power outage hit San Diego County around 3:35 p.m. Thursday, and was felt from south Orange County to Arizona and Tijuana, halting phone service as well as radio transmissions. On one of the hottest days of the year, some 1.4 million customers were without electricity, according to a spokesman for San Diego Gas & Electric Co. An SDG &E spokesman said just before 5 p.m. that the outage could last into Friday after a "large switching station" in Arizona was knocked out. A "cascading event" overwhelmed the system, leading to "too many outages in too many places," he said at SDG&E headquarters. The Escondido and Otay Mesa power plants were to be brought online first, "working from the inside out."

"This was a fairly severe event," SDG&E said at its Kearny Mesa base. This could be an extended outage, the spokesman said. "Just chill out while the power is out," he said. He urged people to turn their air conditioning off in anticipation of the power being restored. SDG& E said it would post updates on Twitter at twitter.com/sdge. "We don't know what happened to the line, all we know is that the line is out. We don't know exactly why it went out. We have no indication that there is an act of terrorism at this time."

"A ham radio operator told KOGO radio at 4:40 p.m. that the Coachella and Salton Sea power plants have gone down. No confirmation yet from officials. The San Diego Office of Emergency Services told KOGO radio that residents shouldn't use landline phones or cell phones. Traffic accidents were reported in the Mission Valley area, and major backups were reported on local freeways as offices emptied early. Many radio stations are out, but KOGO said it was running on a generator. Los Angeles is not affected. All three trolley lines are reported halted. Lindbergh Field halted departures but not arrivals. San Diego State University shut down."
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I'm hearing that the power is out in ALL of San Diego all the way to the border of Mexico and even some parts of Orange County...Reports coming in via @nbcsandiego that ALL San Diego Gas and Electric customers do not have power at this time. And no cell phones either. Our national grid is soooo vulnerable. No matter what the cause, whether terrorism or EMP natural cause such as a storm, it is still bad that an entire city and all the counties in between down to Mexico are in the dark.

News from Twitter:

RSF_Fire Rancho Santa Fe Fire
There is a massive power outage affecting most of San Diego County. We have no further information at this time but will provide updates.

SanDiego6 San Diego 6 News
Message from San Diego Fire Rescue to residents in San Diego: Don't leave home if you don't have to. Don't call 911 for information.

ReadySanDiego Ready San Diego
All San Diego County residents please stay off your landlines and cell phones unless it is an emergency. Use text messages instead.

From SignOnSanDiego News:
"Power outages have been reported across San Diego County, from San Marcos to San Carlos, including much of the city of San Diego. A San Diego Gas & Electric Co. spokesman said utility officials were trying to determine the source and extent of the outage." News 10 does not have much more info, here is a link
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