National City power outage knocks out service to thousands, stops traffic

A power outage cut off electrical service to thousands of South Bay homes and businesses Thursday, authorities reported.

The blackout across neighborhoods in National City struck about 1:20 p.m., initially leaving 5,173 San Diego Gas & Electric customers without power, according to the utility company.

As of shortly after 2:30 p.m., repair crews had restored electrical service to roughly 4,000 of the affected addresses, SDG&E advised. The remainder were expected to be back online by 7 p.m., the utility reported.

The cause of the outage was under investigation, though downed power lines prompted road closures in the 2000 block of D Avenue and 300 block of East 20th Street in National City in the early afternoon.