Lights Out for Obama in Oahu Power Outage

The Hawaiian island of Oahu lost power during heavy rain and lightning last night, leaving the population of 800,000 and thousands of tourists, including vacationing President-elect Obama and his family, in the dark. Authorities advised residents to stay home and to conserve water. Hawaiian Electric Co. took an emergency generator to the compound where the Obamas have been staying.

Gov. Linda Lingle said she expected power to be restored some time this morning. Hawaiian Electric had restored power to about 30,000 customers by 2:40am, a spokesman told The Honolulu Advertiser. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann noted that Obama is in one of the "most secure places, so he'll be OK." Said Lingle: “I would advise ... everyone to just go to sleep.” (More Hawaii stories.)