Hundreds in Baldwin Hills left without power for more than 24 hours

A power outage in Baldwin Hills has left more than 500 households without electricity since early Friday afternoon, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.

The outage, which affects an area south of Jefferson Boulevard and east of La Cienega Boulevard, began around 1 p.m. Friday and was still ongoing as of 4 p.m. Saturday, utility spokeswoman Carol Tucker said. The power loss initially affected 875 customers and was still a problem for 530 as of Saturday afternoon.

Frustrated residents had begun to pepper politicians with questions and complaints on Twitter. Ricardo Marquez, who lives in the neighborhood, said DWP representatives had kept pushing back the time when power was likely to be back.

Marquez said his food had spoiled because “I didn’t get enough ice, because I thought it was going to be just a few hours.”

He was especially worried about his elderly neighbors, particularly those who don’t speak English. “We’ve kind of just — no pun intended — been left in the dark without any information,” Marquez said.

Tucker said the problem was traced to an underground circuit. Underground equipment tends to take longer to repair “because it’s harder to find where the actual problem is,” she said.

“They had to go in and replace cable and there’s a lot of splicing to do,” Tucker said.

The utility estimated that power would be restored around 6 p.m. Saturday.