There was a mysterious blackout in SoCal Thursday night, from North San Diego County all the way up to Orange County. More than 100,00 people unexpectedly lost power at around 7:40 p.m.

The electric company simply said it was “under investigation” with no reported reason for the outage.

Of course, there are lots of theories floating around on social media, including an attack on our power grid or an EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse), which is a sudden burst of energy that disrupts or destroys electronics.

“A high-altitude EMP attack could paralyze the power grid and communications”.

From Reddit: “Most likely someone hacked into the control/management system and brought down the entire system from northern San Diego to South OC.”

State officials, including Governor Gavin Newsom, have not issued any statements regarding the incident, more than 12 hours after two of California's most populous areas lost power - which is home to more than six million people. Moreover, the state's Office of Emergency Services did not even acknowledge a large-scale blackout had taken place, with the agency's website and social media accounts making no mention of the incident as of Friday morning. Despite the complete absence of communication from state officials, residents in the blackout zone captured frightening video of drivers speeding along pitch-black roads with no traffic lights or street lamps working.
'California is having a night straight out of a disaster movie,' one person said on social media. --Daily Mail

It’s a good thing I have so many candles; it was actually quite lovely to sit in silence and flickering candlelight until, suddenly, without warning, the power came back on.

Here’s the meaningless word salad response from the electric company:
“Early information indicates the event originated on the regional transmission system, which serves multiple communities across SDG&E’s service area. In response to grid conditions, built-in safety measures briefly interrupted service to help protect the larger electric grid.

We are supporting the California Independent System Operator, which manages the state’s electric grid, in their review of system performance. We know outages are disruptive, and the safety of our customers, employees, and communities remains our top priority.”

None of that really answers any of our questions, and as I wonder what the REAL story is, I suggest that we all stock up on candles and generators and power banks, just to be prepared for any future eventuality.