JEANNE MESERVE, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in California, where officials are pleading with people to conserve energy. A storm, the worst in years, has further strained the state's power grid, crippling a key nuclear plant before moving off. Rolling blackouts may not be imminent, but remain a possibility. CNN's Greg Lefevre joins us from San Francisco. Greg, give us a status report.</s>GREG LEFEVRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Jeanne. We are currently at a stage 2 power emergency in California. That means that the state of California only has about a 5 percent margin on its electrical use. That's not very much. If one power plant goes down, we're in serious trouble today. Yesterday, we had a really nasty situation in California, stage 3, down to 1 1/2 percent margin on electrical use. And the principal reason, power plants were down. The Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant on California's central coast was down to less to less than 20 percent of its capacity, because the heavy, stormy weather had broken loose kelp beds and other debris that clogged the cooling intake valves at Diablo Canyon. Diablo Canyon serves much of the central California coastal community, and it's an important part of California's electrical generating capacity. The stormy weather up and down California, one of the most powerful storms in years, caused many homes to have to put on more heat during the day, many offices to put on more heat during the day. It also hampered other power plants up and down the coast as they also had to watch their intake valves, and many of those plants were also reduced in power. The power grid in California was strained to the max yesterday. The California electrical system needs to move electricity north and south as the electrical requirements vary from north to south, and it was not able to do that on a timely basis yesterday. And so the word went out late yesterday afternoon to reduce power as much as possible. The city lights in San Francisco's City Hall were down as the city decided it needed to use the electricity elsewhere. Stage 2 currently in California. We're getting through the day OK for now. Jeanne, back to you.</s>MESERVE: Greg Lefevre, thank you.
Officials Pleading With Californians to Conserve Energy