Power Outage Forces Evacuation of Rides at Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

SANTA CRUZ (CBS SF) -- A power outage in Santa Cruz Monday afternoon reportedly shut down the rides at the Beach Boardwalk that left some guests stranded for a time, according to the amusement park.

There were news and social media reports of the outage impacting some rides and stranding riders at around 3 p.m. Monday afternoon. The Santa Cruz Sentinel reported that over 4,000 Pacific Gas and Electric customers were affected, including the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk.

A number of park visitors posted on Twitter and Instagram about the outage. One Twitter used posted video that showed people stuck on the Sky Glider gondola ride.

The Beach Boardwalk Twitter account addressed how riders were rescued from rides, noting that most attractions "will power down, either automatically or with manual assistance, and be safely evacuated."

By 3:30 p.m., the park said all rides had been safely evacuated except Sky Glider, which takes a little longer to evacuate during outages.

PG&E had restored power to almost 3,000 customers by late afternoon, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reported. Full restoration was expected by 6:30 p.m.