Most of San Diego County Will Be Powerless Through Friday

It's gonna be a long slow restoration of power in San Diego County:

Most power-stricken customers in San Diego County will be without electricity until the end of Friday, the president of utility serving the area said Thursday night.

San Diego Gas and Electricity President Michael Niggli said that power had been restored to three substations that service areas in southern Orange County. He also predicted that a "few more" areas would have electricity restored by midnight.

"After that," he told reporters at a news conference, "it's going to be a slow march throughout tomorrow" to restore power. ...

Officials said all public schools and San Diego County would be closed Friday.

Niggli urged people to turn off their air conditioners to prevent a surge when power is finally restored. "It's really critical that people turn off their air conditioners," he said.

That last item is more important than you might think. When the power finally comes on, if there's a huge sudden demand from lots of air conditioners it could destabilize the grid again the knock the whole thing offline for several more hours.

Also, it's a good idea to unplug any expensive electronics until power is fully restored and stabilized to keep surges or brown-outs from damaging equipment.