Outage affects 4,400

Problems with an underground power cable knocked out a transformer near East Coast Highway on Thursday morning, snarling traffic on the highway and depriving 4,400 Southern California Edison customers of electricity.

Power went off at 8:25 a.m. in an area bounded by Beacon Bay, 17th Street, Jamboree Road, and Monrovia Avenue, said an Edison spokesman, though police said it happened earlier. The Edison representative said half of the area had power restored by 8:50 a.m., but power remained off until 1:20 p.m. for about 300 people.

Newport Beach police sent officers to direct traffic when it got heavy later in the morning. A stoplight at Bayview Circle and East Coast Highway remained off for hours, snarling traffic in both directions; eventually police sent a temporary traffic light to the intersection in response. The Newport Beach Fire Department aided in the effort to minimize the effects of the outage, police said.