A major power outage in Bakersfield temporarily left tens of thousands of customers without electricity Thursday.
A PG&E spokesperson said more than 24,000 customers in downtown, central and east Bakersfield lost power about 3:30 Thursday afternoon, including San Joaquin Community Hospital.
PG&E workers were running a routine maintenance test at one of their local facilities when they experienced equipment failure. The failure caused 47 separate outages.
The outage made for a rough start to the early evening commute. The traffic lights were out at 23rd and L Streets and traffic was backed up through the downtown area.
The generator kicked on at San Joaquin Hospital. The power was quickly restored and the outage didn't affect any services.
"Obviously with patients in the hospital, staff members, there's a lot of people on campus here at any given time in stressful situations, whether it be a surgery or patients on deliberations. We have generators that will kick on instantly when the power goes off," said Jimmy Phillips, San Joaquin Community Hospital.
Kern Medical Center, Memorial Hospital and Mercy Hospital reported the outage did not affect those facilities.
A PG&E spokesperson said the power was back on for all 24,000 customers just after 4:00 Thursday afternoon.
