Power was restored to thousands of residents in Southern California who were without power Tuesday morning after three unrelated outages occurred.
Three Valentine's Day balloons were the cause of at least one outage in South Los Angeles on Monday that left more than 5,000 people without power.
Drivers, unaware that the stop lights were out, were barreling through one intersection in South LA after the blackout.
Mylar, or metallic, Valentine's Day balloons came into contact with power lines in the area, serving as the root of the problem, SoCal Edison said.
SoCal Edison said power should be restored by 6 a.m. Tuesday. SoCal Edison also advised residents that if they come across downed power lines to never approach them, and call 911.
Around 7 a.m. Tuesday, about 62 customers remained without power in Long Beach. Nearly 4,000 customers were without power Monday night. Most of the power was restored.
SoCal Edison said crews were analyzing the problem, but did not have a restoration time for the remaining customers.
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In Seal Beach, about 1,980 customers also experienced a power outage Monday night.
Prior to power going out in South LA, SoCal Edison urged residents to tie down Valentine's day balloons, as they often float away into the sky and then cause major outages when they come into contact with power lines.
SoCal Edison said 2015 saw a record high of free-floating Mylar balloons causing a whopping 924 outages.
The company also reminded customers that it is required by law that balloons be tied down with a weight.
The ballooning problem often begins in February and ends in June.
The company said sometimes Mylar balloons are the caused for bringing down power lines, and causing severe injuries. SoCal Edison said that happened 96 times last year.
SoCal Edison also provided tips:
- Don't touch a balloon tangled in a power line.
- Don't tie Mylar, or metallic, balloons to a child's wrist as the balloon can come into contact with electricity and seriously hurt or kill the child.
- Don't attach streamers to a balloon.
- Don't release balloons - pop them and put them in the trash.
Call SCE at 800-611-1911 to report a balloon wrapped in a power line.
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