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Ala Moana-Kapiolani The Ala Moana-Kapiolani area was hit with another blackout this morning when an underground cable failed, leaving 1,022 customers without electricity.
areas lose power again
Ala Moana Center and
One condo had it much worse
two TV stations were hit
by last night's blackoutBy Leila Fujimori
Star-BulletinAmong those affected, beginning at 8:35 a.m., were large facilities such as the Central YMCA on Atkinson Boulevard and the Kapiolani branch of the First Hawaiian Bank.
Hawaiian Electric Co. crews were dispatched to Kapiolani Boulevard to try to find the cause of the electrical failure.
Last night, 13,000 customers, including Ala Moana Center and two television stations, went without power for nearly 90 minutes when a transformer failed.
Last night's outage occurred when an insulator on a transformer failed at HECO's Archer substation at 5:57 p.m., said Fred Kobashikawa, HECO spokesman.
The areas affected included Ala Moana, Kakaako, McCully and Makiki areas, including most of Ala Moana Center. Power was restored by 7:30 p.m.
KGMB-9 television, in front of the Makaloa substation, had its 6 o'clock news interrupted by the power outage.
KHON-TV on Piikoi Street across from Ala Moana Center lost power, but was back on air with emergency power. It could only broadcast to parts of the island.
At Hino Hairstyles in Ala Moana Center, a woman had her hair cut by candlelight, said receptionist Annie Rohr. "She didn't seem to mind," Rohr said. "But her husband called on his cell and said, 'Don't cut it too short.' "
At Sharper Image, "nobody stole anything," said sales clerk Micah Shklov. "The lights went out and everybody left." So the staff wound up the hand-cranked generators on radios and enjoyed the music for a while.
At Liberty House, customers were led out by flashlight, said operations manager Rick Mitchell.
Zane Zakimi was with his wife and two kids heading from the parking lot to J.C. Penney when the power went out.
"He thought it was his fault," Zakimi said motioning toward his 8-year-old son, Keane. "He's very curious and tends to get his hands on things."
Gregg Kakesako contributed to this report.
While the lights in neighboring buildings went back on after last night's power outage, residents of the 27-story Kapiolani Manor on Makaloa Street remained in darkness. Condo was in
the dark much longerBy Leila Fujimori
Star-BulletinThe building's 800 to 900 residents had been without power and water since 5 a.m. yesterday. Power was finally restored at 11:25 last night.
"We helped bring down some elderly in their 70s and 80s," said Fua Liva, building manager. "They're very fragile."
Liva and his staff worked from 5:30 a.m. until late last night.
They carried down one woman living on the 20th floor of the 416-unit building. The men also carried an oxygen tank to another elderly resident. And another individual, who could not be brought down, missed his dialysis appointment.
"My concern is there are people with no sanitation from 5 a.m.," Liva said last night from his darkened office, lighted only by a tiny flashlight.
People living from the seventh floor up had no water. Some hauled water up in buckets from the third floor. Liva's staff was taking up buckets to the older residents.
Heco spokesman Fred Kobashikawa said the power outage at Kapiolani Manor was not related to the outage in the general area.
Kobashikawa said a problem with a transformer cut most power to the building at 5 a.m. The entire building was cut off at 1 p.m. to work on the problem. Heco crews had been working on the problem since 7 a.m.