Gov Lingle Lingle today praised the efforts of Honolulu police officers during last night's island-wide power outage and said the entire police force contributed to the general calm over O'ahu.

There were no reports of major crime and "everybody seemed to be obeying the rules very well," Lingle said during a conference call to reporters today. "... I do give a lot of credit to the quick response of the police department."

Lingle also praised Hawaiian Electric Co.'s top officials in communicating better with her and State Civil Defense — especially compared to the 2006 island-wide power outage that caused traffic gridlock and confusion.

Two years ago, communication between HECO and State Civil Defense "was not as robust," Lingle said. "That was very different this time. ... In 2006 we all should have done a lot better and we did do a lot better this time."

Communication with Hawai'i's visitor industry also was much improved compared to 2006, Lingle said. Brennon Morioka, director of the state Department of Transportation, said arriving passengers were notified by their airlines that O'ahu was experiencing an island-wide power outage.

An after-action review of the outage involving HECO, the state Consumer Advocate and state Public Utilities Commission will be conducted shortly, Lingle said.

With President-Elect Barack Obama enjoying a beach-side family vacation in Kailua, Lingle said she was initially concerned "about national and international news coverage that Hawai'i might get of a negative nature," which did not materialize.

And she insisted that there was never a concern that the outage might be related to a threat against Obama. Instead, she said, there were no communications between the Secret Service and state officials that the outage was anything more than a storm-related event.

"There was never any talk like that in the Civil Defense Headquarters" inside Diamond Head crater, Lingle said. "...There were no communications of that nature. From the very beginning, it was thought to be something weather related."

Lingle was celebrating the Jewish Sabbath Friday night at a home in Kahala when the power went out around 7 p.m. Because of the Hanukkah season, the home was decorated with candles and the dinner party continued, Lingle said.

"Our host had said it was something occurred fairly regularly in their neighborhood."

Then a member of Lingle's security detail received a call from his wife that power also was out in Kailua and her staff called state Civil Defense and Lingle headed toward Diamond Head around 8:30 p.m.

In other topics, Lingle said:

• All out-bound flights that had been delayed have since departed.

• "It appears as if 90 percent of the electricity is back on for people. The remaining 10 percent are pockets scattered around."

• "There are no major problems that I know that we're created because of the power outage."

• "The people in Waikiki did a terrific job."