Power Outages, Lightning Hit Palm Springs And Palm Desert

Residents in the Coachella Valley woke up Thursday morning to lightning, while some woke up with no power.

Southern California Edison reported two outages: Palm Springs and Palm Desert.

The Palm Springs blackout happened around 5:20 a.m. and affected 1,500 customers. As of 2:00 p.m., the power had been restored except to approximately 21 customers.

The incident in Palm Desert occurred around 8:35 a.m. and affected 1,300 customers, according to SCE. The outage blanketed a section of the city bordered by Highway 111, Grapevine Street, Deep Canyon and Edgehill Drive.

But, the day began with a lightning show. “It was dark. It was beautiful,” said Saul Martinez, who had been working since 5:30 a.m. “We saw everything.”

The morning eventually gave way to rain. It covered the desert for the first time since mid-July.

“It’s different,” said Martha Olvera, from Indio. “It’s always too hot out here. [The rain] makes everything look nicer out here, especially with everything dried up. Everything starts to grow green again.”