Lightning, rain and thunderstorms in the middle of July left nearly 14,000 residents without power Saturday across different parts of San Diego County on Saturday, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) confirmed.
As of 12:45 p.m., one of the biggest power outages impacted neighborhoods in Logan Heights, Mountain View and Lincoln Park, with approximately 3,918 residents without power. SDG&E expected to restore power to customers by 3 p.m. By Sunday, all by 35 customers had their power restored, SDG&E said.
In parts of Mission Valley, Kearny Mesa, Tierrasanta, University Heights, North Park and Normal Heights, roughly 3,934 residents were left without power after an outage struck just before 11:30 a.m. Power was expected to be restored by 2 p.m., SDG&E said.
Meanwhile, in parts of Ocean Beach, Midway District and Lindbergh Field, nearly 2,100 customers were without power as of 12:15 p.m. Crews expected to restore power in those areas by 3 p.m. as well.
In Coronado, power was knocked out for about 1,700 residents.
Earlier in the day, just before 6:30 a.m., a power outage impacted 3,825 residents in parts of Clairemont and Kearny Mesa. SDG&E officials said they expected to restore power to those areas by 9 a.m.
By 9:45 a.m. almost all residents in those areas had power once more. SDG&E said approximately 85 customers remained without power, but the company expected to restore service to those remaining customers by 11 a.m. However, another outage struck the same area around 11 a.m., leaving 155 customers in the dark.
Meanwhile, in the East County, 2,020 customers were left without power just before 7 a.m. when an outage hit El Cajon. SDG&E said power would be restored by 11:30 a.m. As of 1 p.m., only 58 customers remained without power in that area.
Other communities hit with smaller power outages during Saturday’s wild weather included parts of Mission Bay; Mission Beach; Pacific Beach; Sunset Cliffs; Point Loma; Torrey Pines; Sorrento Valley; University City; Fort Rosecrans; MCRD; Encinitas; Cardiff-by-the-Sea; Olivenhain; MCAS Miramar; Scripps Ranch; Kensington; Talmadge; West College Area; Chollas Creek; Oak Park; and City Heights.
By 4:10 p.m., a total of 13 power outages remained scattered across the county.All by 35 were restored by Sunday morning.
This included 1,217 residents without power in parts of Ocean Beach, Midway and Lindbergh Field, as well as 1,266without power in parts of University Heights, North Park and Normal Heights. SDG&E said the weather had caused issues in electric systems across San Diego.
NBC 7’s meteorologist Vanessa Herrera said the county will see a 50 percent chance of thunderstorms and showers throughout the day until 11 p.m. After that, she said it will decrease to 40 percent.
Herrera said San Diego mountains and deserts will continue to see thunderstorms and lightning on Sunday, and perhaps even through Monday with a 20 percent chance of storms persisting. Get more weather updates from Herrera here.
National Weather Service San Diego said there had been more than 500 lightning strikes in the county as of 1:15 p.m.
As of 12:30 p.m., the NWS said San Diego’s rainfall totals were at 0.46 inches, making it the second wettest day ever in July in San Diego. NWS officials said Lindbergh Field set the record more than 100 years ago in July 1902 after logging a record 0.83 inches of rainfall in one day.
On Saturday afternoon, NBC 7 meteorologist Jodi Kodesh reported the 113-year-old rainfall record had been broken. As of 3:30 p.m., 1.03 inches of rain had fallen, shattering the old July record.
