Los Angeles – Major portions of the city lost power for more than an hour around lunchtime Monday after utility workers mistakenly cut several cables, causing a short that sizzled through the system with a potent shock.
Roughly 2 million people were affected by the resultant power surge and outages, which trapped some in elevators and snarled intersections regionwide. Much of the power was restored just before 2 p.m.; all power was expected to be restored before dark.
There were few reports of injuries. Two men were briefly hospitalized after inhaling toxic fumes at an oil refinery when smoke backed up after the power went out, fire officials said.
Police discounted terrorism almost immediately, though the timing of the outage caused some concern: It came a day after the airing of videotape in which a purported al-Qaeda member threatened Los Angeles.
