A reported 5,500 homes and businesses are without power Thursday night in Manhattan Beach, said City Manager David Carmany around 10:10 p.m. A transformer at Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Ardmore Avenue is believed to have caused the outage, he said.
Southern California Edison has repair crews and equipment en route from Santa Monica, said Carmany.
Patch reporter John Schreiber saw a transformer explode in front of The Strand House shortly before 9 p.m. The Manhattan Beach Fire Department responded, as did SCE, he said. No one in the immediate area was injured by the explosion and there appeared to not be any property damage to businesses in the area.
The SCE power outage map online has yet to report the outage. A restoration time has yet to be predicted.
Customers in Shellback Tavern carried on after the outage, said Schreiber. Staff pulled out lanterns and folks continued their evening.
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