Power Cut Off in Homestead, Fla.

By Associated Press

September 26, 2001, 10:01 AM EDT

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Homes and businesses lost power for several hours after an explosion in part of the city's electric grid.

The blackout began at about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. Officials in Homestead, a former military town just north of the Florida Keys, said emergency crews restored power around four hours later.

Large circuit breakers "blew up in one of our mini-stations," said Jesus Gonzalez, a dispatcher with the Homestead Police Department. The problem appeared to be technical, Gonzalez said, and not the result of any sort of sabotage.

Homestead, population 29,000, still has a reserve air base but only a fraction of the military presence that was here when the city was flattened by Hurricane Andrew in August 1992. The Pentagon pulled out rather than rebuild the destroyed base, taking with it the base's 6,000 airmen and officers and 2,000 civilian jobs. Copyright © 2001, The Associated Press

-- Anonymous, September 26, 2001

Answers

there was mention on the local tv that it may have been a set up for all the burgling that went on just after the power went out. Many businesses were hit, some simultaneously, during the outage and police could not respond to all the alarms.

just a mention mind you, nothing to back it up.

-- Anonymous, September 27, 2001