Hawaii island loses power when Obama was vacationing

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-27 20:43

HONOLULU – The island of Oahu lost power Friday evening in the midst of heavy rain and lightning, leaving some 800,000 residents and thousands of tourists in the dark, as well as the neighborhood where President-elect Barack Obama was vacationing.

A customer pays for his goods by lantern at a convenient store in Honolulu, Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008 during a blackout. [Agencies]

Residents were being advised by the power company and civil authorities to get to their homes and conserve water. Several radio stations were broadcasting emergency information.

Gov. Linda Lingle said that Hawaiian Electric Co. was taking an emergency generator to the compound on the east side of the island where Obama has been staying. Lingle said she had asked the utility to notify her when it had been delivered.

Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann told KSSK radio that Obama is in one of the "most secure places, so he'll be OK."

Honolulu International Airport was running on an emergency generator, but Lingle said most outgoing mainland flights were being postponed until daylight hours as airport officials struggle to process incoming flights. Some were diverted to other Hawaiian islands, which have separate power grids.

Hawaiian Electric spokesman Peter Rosegg said the initial power outage hit at 6:45 p.m., knocking out electricity to most of the island. The rest of Oahu lost power two hours later when a second generator failed.

Rosegg said engineers were working to gradually restore power across the isolated island grid.

Lingle said she expected power to be restored by morning. The cause of the outage was being investigated.

Lingle said the utility had asked the state to fly a helicopter at daylight so it can inspect power lines on a mountain ridge that it fears may be damaged.

Although the outage was triggered during a thunderstorm, the weather cleared up quickly over most of the island.

The outage closed stores at major retail outlets just after sunset, halting post-Christmas shopping a couple of hours early. Residents were trapped in parking lots and highways were clogged as everyone tried to get home at once.

Lingle in a radio interview late Friday told residents, "I would advise ... everyone to just go to sleep."

Several Christmas weekend events were scuttled by the blackout, including a show at the Blaisdell Concert Hall by comedian Howie Mandel.