Some North Shore Residents Could Be Without Power For Four Days

Power was restored Tuesday to nearly 300 Imperial Irrigation District customers in the North Shore area, near the Salton Sea, but more than 660 other customers could be without power up to four days.

A storm on Monday destroyed more than 30 electrical poles, causing about 1,400 customers to initially lose power at 7:30 p.m., according to IID. The utility restored power to 492 customers by 8:45 p.m. Monday night, and to another 292 customers around 9:45 a.m. Tuesday, but based on the most up-to-date information, full power restoration was expected to take up to four days.

“We have all hands on deck,” said Marilyn Del Bosque Gilbert, IID energy manager. “The district has all resources available at the site and will continue to work as long as needed to restore power. We appreciate the patience of our customers during this unexpected outage.”

The storm caused downed distribution lines and a number of other physical tasks that required the removal of damaged equipment and the construction of new infrastructure, according to the utility.

IID reported 80 personnel were deployed to the restoration effort under “extreme weather conditions,” and the utility was making ice and bottled water available for North Shore customers affected by the outage. The supplies were being provided at the IID command center, located near the intersection of Club View Drive and Vander Veer Road. Ice will be provided from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the remainder of the outage.

The utility was also in the process of providing a generator to the Yacht Club at 99-155 Sea View Drive in Mecca, to be utilized as a cooling center.

IID was making ice and bottled water available for North Shore customers affected by the outage. The supplies were being provided at the IID command center located near the intersection of Club View Drive and Vander Veer Road in North Shore. Ice will be provided from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the remainder of the outage.

Please share: For North Shore customers affected by the outage, ice and bottled water will be available starting at 12:30 p.m. today at IID’s command center, which is located near the intersection of Club View and Vander Veer in North Shore. pic.twitter.com/nzLJAjCwl7

— IID (@IIDatWork) August 31, 2021

County Supervisor Manuel Perez, whose Fourth District encompasses Thousand Palms, responded to the announcement on Twitter by saying, “4 days is too long. My office is reaching out to county departments to see what resources we can help IID with.”

IID serves electricity to more than 150,000 customers in parts of Riverside and San Diego counties, and all of Imperial County.