(Update) The Day After: Thirsty Prowlers Arrested; Helix Water Safe to Drink

Updated at 2:45 p.m. Saturday

Four people with a thirst for adventure, or larceny, were arrested by La Mesa police late Thursday at a liquor superstore west of Grossmont Center during the last hours of the countywide blackout.

Police making a routine security check of businesses heard breaking glass in the area of BevMo! at 8410 Center Drive, said police Lt. Dan Willis.

“The officers surrounded the building and called ASTREA to fly over, where four persons were found to be hiding on the roof,” Willis said.  “All four subjects were arrested [on charges of] prowling.”

Willis identified the prowling suspects as Ian Wiggins, 18, of San Diego; Amanda Savage, 26, of La Mesa; Colin Savage, 19, of La Mesa; and Chelsee Harris, 19, of  El Cajon.

They were arrested at 11:42 p.m., he said. None was in custody 12 hours later, according to jail records.

BevMo! assistant manager Kevin Schmaltz said it didn’t look as if the prowlers got in, and no doors or windows were broken.

The store closed about 7:30 or 8 p.m. after staying open in the blackout to sell ice.

The store had backup power for an hour, but couldn't let people inside for security reasons. The store threw out some potentially spoiled cheese.

Other than the BevMo arrests, Willis said La Mesa had no looting or other noteworthy events overnight.

Meanwhile, Helix Water District staff continued to receive inquiries about the safety of the drinking water. 

“The district assures customers that the water quality was never compromised during the power outage, and that no customers were without water during the outage,” spokeswoman Kate Breece said Friday afternoon.

The district continues to deliver highly treated drinking water to its more than 260,000 customers. 

“No boil orders have been issued in the Helix District,” she said. “Helix recommends that area residents outside the Helix district check with their individual water providers.”

Heartland Fire and Rescue said the call volume in La Mesa was higher than normal overnight.

Department spokesman Sonny Saghera didn’t have numbers, but said “the call types were typical—[nothing] unusual and no elevator rescues in La Mesa.”

Saghera said the three-city force was fully staffed and had three additional engines staffed. He also confirmed that no Heartland crews have been dispatched to Texas.

“Our biggest obstacle was communication due to the high call volume throughout the county,” he said, “but we train on instances like this and were able to adapt to the situation.”

Power returned to all parts of La Mesa early Friday after first including downtown La Mesa about 10:45 p.m. Thursday and northern parts of the city at 12:51 a.m. SDG&E said all of 1.4 million customers had electricity by 3:25 a.m. Friday.

Spring Valley and Mount Helix reported electricity was restored just after midnight.

But at SDG&E's request for energy conservation, La Mesa City Hall was closed Friday, according to an outgoing message on its phone service. The Adult Enrichment Center also was closed Friday, but the nearby La Mesa Community Center on Memorial Drive is open as a cool zone.

The Helix Water District reported Friday morning that its water system was back to pre-outage conditions and said customers could return to their "normal water-conserving behavior."

During the blackout, the district’s R.M. Levy Water Treatment Plant in Lakeside remained operational under emergency power and maintained water deliveries without interruption. 

“The response by the district was immediate and effective to ensure no customers lost water service during the incident,” said Mark Weston, Helix general manager.  “We want to thank our customers for responding to our request to curtail their water use to only essential needs during the power outage.”

The district deployed 15 emergency power generators to keep its treatment plant, pump stations and operations center operational throughout the blackout.

Backup generators also kicked in at Sharp Grossmont Hospital,  although some of the public areas were darker than usual, and staff had to manually open some doors that normally open automatically, said spokesman Bruce Hartman.

“We made sure that supplemental lighting was available,” Hartman said. “[Patient] volumes were higher than usual.  Patients came in with home oxygen, which had run out or needed to be charged  On an average, we see 225 patients in the [emergency room].”

Staffing levels were normal, but some employees worked overtime, and power to the hospital was restored at 1 a.m., he said.

“Guest Services and the Auxiliary (volunteers) greeted guests in the main lobby and handed out paper fans, while a volunteer played his guitar and sang to patients in the Rehab Center,” Hartman said. 

On Friday, the auditorium was turned into a day-care center for staff members with children.

“These are just some of the ways our team members have gone above and beyond to provide The Sharp Experience to our patients, their families and to each other,” he said via email Friday night.

At Country Villa La Mesa Healthcare Center—home of California’s second-oldest person, 111-year-old Frederica Maas—backup power and fans kept residents cool, said Mary Pelowitz, business office assistant.

“Our priority was our residents,” Pelowitz said just before noon Friday. Doors and windows were closed to preserve the comfort levels, and “It was pretty good” inside.

No residents had to leave their rooms, said social services employee at Country Villa on Lake Murray Boulevard.

All schools in the Grossmont Union High School District were closed Friday, but management is supposed to report to work, KOGO reported. 

Schools Superintendent Brian Marshall said La Mesa-Spring Valley schools would be closed Friday—along with all public and Catholic schools in the county.

At Grossmont and Cuyamaca colleges, all classes and student activities were canceled Friday. Offices also were closed on Friday, said spokeswoman Anne Krueger. All student activities resume Saturday, Sept. 10. Offices will be open Monday and classes will be held as scheduled.

At the La Mesa police station about 9 p.m., an officer brought boxes of pizza to co-workers, including Police Chief Al Lanning, Capt. Ed Aceves and other top brass.

All three Metropolitan Transit Service trolley lines were halted, including a trolley stranded on the Spring Street overpass of Interstate 8.

Another trolley—at Spring Street and Allison Avenue in The Village—let out passengers. MTS buses were making rounds, shuttling passengers between trolley stops where riders were parked.

The 99 Cent Store on Baltimore Drive and El Cajon Boulevard was open until dark amid long lines.

Brandon Griffith, an employee at the store, said seven shoppers were allowed in, and as each shopper left another person was let in. He said 100 to 200 people came since the blackout started and people were buying ice, drinks, candles and flashlights.

From the darkened upper level parking lot, customers scurried in and out of the Target in Grossmont Center—the only store opened at the mall.

A woman in Target's parking lot said that she had waited as long as 45 minutes to check out.

Vine Ripe Market was open on Fletcher Parkway—where headlights illuminated the produce and entrance to the market.

Early in the evening, La Mesa police Lt. David Bond said no major problems have been reported, but all La Mesa police officers were being asked to check in for possible duty later.

"The La Mesa Police Department is only responding to life-and-death and emergency calls," Bond said. "So far so good. We have enough personnel [on duty], and we have people on standby."

Linda Gutierrez, who lives in downtown La Mesa, was one of those stranded at that trolley stop. She said: "When the trolley stopped, I said 'Oh no, another train will come up behind us and hit us.'"

She added that the train "stopped dead. ... It got real quiet and still."

She and other passengers said they were stranded and had no idea how they would get home.

The California Highway Patrol reminded drivers to treat intersections with a flashing red light as stop signs. About 50 accident calls were pending "the last time I checked," a CHP spokesman told KOGO.

Outback Steakhouse on Lake Murray Boulevard, which normally opens at 4 p.m., stayed closed Thursday, a manager said Friday. But staff was able to find dry ice in time to preserve its stockpile of beef and other dinner entres.

Two restaurants on Baltimore near Lake Murray served diners Thursday night by floodlights and candlelight—PG King and Little Roma.

"We've got a generator in the back," Paco Gomez at the Chinese restaurant said around 7 p.m. Thursday. "But we don't have too many orders because people don't know we're open."

A few doors down, Little Roma customers sat at candlelit tables and ate pizza, salad and sandwiches.

Nika Bell, a visitor from Cambridge, MA, said: "It's Italian and romantic, and I knew they would take care of us." She said she likes to visit Little Roma when she's in town.

Emerald Oil on Lake Murray Boulevard at Baltimore Drive couldn't dispense gas, but with the help of headlights customers bought food from the mini-mart.

At the Grossmont Trolley Station, an MTS bus driver said that she was "trolley hopping," working overtime to shuttle stranded passengers.