Thousands of residents in Maricopa were plunged into darkness early this morning after a major equipment failure knocked out power for approximately 33,000 customers. The outage began around 7 a.m. and lasted until 11 a.m., according to information provided by Electrical District No. 3. Despite the unexpected disruption, power was rapidly restored to nearly all customers by late morning, easing concerns of those affected.

Electrical District No. 3 posted an alert on its website detailing the cause of the incident, "ED3 is experiencing a transmission outage to our system. ED3 has been in contact with our transmission providers, including WAPA and APS. A transmission crew has been dispatched from APS to investigate the matter. APS reports that it will take at least an hour for the team to be onsite," as per the AZ Family report. The Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) cited a "major event" on their system contributing to the outage, though specific details were not immediately available.

During the blackout, Maricopa's police department took to Facebook urging patience and caution, advising drivers to treat inoperative traffic signals as four-way stops. "This includes traffic signals and city facilities. Thank you for your patience and assistance in ensuring safety on the roads," Maricopa Police wrote, as noted by FOX 10 Phoenix. The community's swift adaptation to the surprise outage reflected a commendable spirit of cooperation amid potentially hazardous circumstances.

Utility crews worked diligently to address the failure, launching major repairs around 10 a.m., which led to the restoration of power within the next hour to the bulk of customers. While the incident caused temporary inconvenience, APS, another service provider in the area confirmed that 86 customers were affected from 99th Avenue to Nahalia Road and from SR 239 to Kinney Road, according to FOX 10 Phoenix.