HONOLULU — In its latest update regarding the Chinatown power outage that began on Monday, Hawaiian Electric announced that at approximately 3:45 p.m., power has been restored to the remaining 600 customers who were affected.

“This completes all the major repairs needed to restore customers in the Chinatown and downtown Honolulu areas that were impacted by Monday’s outage. Any customers who are still out of power should contact Hawaiian Electric’s Oahu trouble line at 1-855-304-1212,” the utility said in a news release. 

Earlier Thursday morning, Hawaiian Electric said that about 2,400 customers had their power restored, but work continued for the remaining 600.

An arc flash inside a manhole set back repairs, according to Hawaiian Electric, and forced HECO to shut off power to about 3,000 customers in Chinatown, parts of downtown and Nu'uanu. Four HECO technicians were inside the manhole but were not hurt.

An arc flash occurs when high-voltage electricity is discharged between two conductors, according to a news release. The flash was smothered by a special heat-resistant blanket the crews used to cover cables and equipment while they work underground.

“We know how frustrating this is and we know customers have run out of patience but the safety of our workers is the priority and we’re not going to send anyone into a situation where they could get hurt,” said Jim Alberts, senior vice president and chief of operations of Hawaiian Electric. “Last night was a setback but because our workers carefully planned out their work and took precautions no one got hurt. We’re putting every available resource on the job but making repairs in a dark, cramped space underground with energized equipment is one of the most hazardous jobs in our company and we have to plan out the work so we can do it safely.”

Crews began investigating the cause of the arc flash, which may have occurred in a splice connecting two high-voltage cables, once the power was shut off around 10:30 p.m. 

Editor's note: this story has been updated with the announcement from Hawaiian Electric that power has been restored to all customers. (June 20, 2024)