Power restored for some, others still in the dark

Power is back on for some of the nearly 3,000 people who lost power Sunday evening in Palm Desert. However, as of Monday some businesses still remain in the dark.

It was an alarming Mother’s Day for Debe Rivera when her backyard burst into flames around 3:30 pm Sunday.

“I thought fireworks in our backyard at first because people were partying next door having a party,” said Rivera. “As soon as my electricity went out I knew it was something else.”

Strong winds caused part of a tree to break off, taking down power lines right into Rivera’s backyard and leaving much of the Palm Desert neighborhood near Portola Avenue and De Anza Way in the dark.

According to Rivera, the fire was out in several minutes. However, restoring power to the neighborhood took until Sunday around midnight.

Completely unrelated, a single vehicle crash near the intersection of Dinah Shore Drive and Dick Kelley Drive left some businesses in the dark.

The crash happened around 4 pm Sunday when the drive lost control of his car and collided with an electrical box leaving businesses without power throughout the day Monday.

“It’s been rough… It’s pretty hot in here” said Planet Solar employee, Christian Inzunza. “Thankfully through the use of technology we’ve been able to tether WiFi off of our phones and tablets, but it’s been pretty rough without AC.”

According to Inzunza, power was expected to be restored by Monday evening.

For power outage updates, click here.