Electrical wires failed near MacArthur Park at evening rush hour, and the fallen lines blocked a major traffic artery and blackened out a densely-populated neighborhood in the Westlake District.
City firefighters said lines were down across Alvarado Street at Maryland Street. The city Department of Transportation was called to send traffic control officers to divert northbound traffic off Alvarado at Sixth Street, and southbound Alvarado at Third Street.
Department of Water and Power spokesman Albert Rodriguez said about 1,146 customers lost power at about 5:32 p.m.
The power was observed to be out in the densely populated city block west of Alvarado, between MacArthur Park and St. Vincent's Medical Center.
A DWP emergency repair crew was dispatched and the electricity would be out for 10 hours "or probably much less than that," Rodriguez said.
