Thousands of people were without power in the San Fernando Valley after a crow flew into a circuit breaker. Marin Austin reports for NBC4 News on June 23, 2016.
Thousands of people in the San Fernando Valley were without electricity Thursday after a crow flew into a circuit breaker and triggered a blackout, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said.
The outage, which affected 15,000 customers, was reported about 8:45 a.m., after a crow landed on a 34,000-volt circuit breaker at a power distribution station in the Valley Village area, the utility and Mayor Eric Garcetti said.
The affected areas included Studio City, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, Valley Village and North Hollywood.
All power was finally restored by 10 p.m.
Among the most affected are restaurant owners. Juan Ventura of El Taco Loco said he will likely be forced to toss 400 pounds of meat.
"We have to throw it away, which is a lot of money, especially because we use a lot of meat that's very expensive," he said.
The LAPD said the type of outage it's dealing with is typically restored quickly by switching the circuit to a functioning power bank, but in this case the entire distribution station had lost power.
"Crews are moving a large remote electric transformer called a 'hog wagon' into the area to use, if needed, to help restore power," the LADWP said in a statement. "At this time, they continue to work on the equipment in the station and in the surrounding area to restore power as quickly as possible."
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[2016 UPDATED 12/20] 2016 Southern California Year in Photos
