Morgan Hill – A blackout in a portion of Morgan Hill Friday night put a damper on some graduation celebrations and added to what was an already hectic night for police handling Live Oak High School commencement and the usual celebratory antics of the last day of school for students.
Approximately 2,500 homes in northeast Morgan Hill lost power at 6:50pm leaving most of East Main Avenue in darkness while the commencement ceremony was under way at Live Oak High.
Families of graduates who had home celebrations planned before their students returned to the school for the Grad Night party at 10pm were forced to light candles and take their celebrations outside to take advantage of the waning daylight or move their parties elsewhere.
Families who had planned to eat dinner with their graduates at Rosy’s at the Beach before sending them off to Grad Night, the annual party in the Live Oak gym designed to keep students safe and sober overnight, were destined for disappointment, as Rosy’s was reportedly forced to close losing thousands of dollars as owners had to cancel many reservations.
David Eisenhauer, a spokesman for PG&E, said at 10:40pm that the cause of the blackout was still undetermined.
“There is still a troubleman out on the scene trying to determine the cause,” he said. “If there are gusty winds, sometimes a brach will be blown into power lines, or power lines can be blown into each other, causing a short.”
Eisenhaur said 1,400 residences had power restored by 7:40pm while an additional 900 were restored to power by 9pm. A few hundred remained without power at 11pm.
