Evacuations Underway After Blackout at Los Angeles Hospital

More than 10 patients on ventilators at a Los Angeles hospital were evacuated Monday night after a power outage disrupted care, the authorities said. It was unclear whether the disruption was connected to the effects of Tropical Storm Hilary, which pummeled Southern California over the weekend.

The power outage was reported at Adventist Health White Memorial, in East Los Angeles, at 11:45 p.m. local time, Margaret Stewart, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said early Tuesday.

Ms. Stewart described an active site at the hospital, with 20 rescue ambulances and 21 fire companies on the scene.

The fire department was working with hospital staff to identify which critically ill patients would require transportation, beginning with those on ventilators, Ms. Stewart said.

The hospital was caring for more than 200 patients, Grace Hauser, a public information officer for the hospital, said on Tuesday.

By around 1:30 a.m. on Tuesday, firefighters were bringing down 11 patients because there were no elevators available with the power out.

Ms. Hauser said that the power at the hospital had initially gone out on Monday morning and that generators had immediately switched on, restoring the electricity.

But the power failed again on Monday night, briefly plunging the hospital into chaos.

“Everyone is fine, all the patients are fine,” Ms. Hauser said later. “We are working on moving some patients to another area of the hospital that does have power.”

Critical patients were being moved to other hospitals, she said, adding that it was unclear what caused the outage and whether it was related to Hilary.