Gusty Winds Cause Power Outages, Bring Down Trees Across SoCal

FONTANA (CBSLA) — Thousands of Southern California Edison customers were without power Monday night after Santa Ana winds raked Southern California.

As of 11 p.m., about 28,000 SCE customers were without power across the Los Angeles area, as well as 6,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers. SCE  said none of the outages are part of the preemptive shutoffs they warned customers about.

More than 3,000 residentts were without power Monday night in the Hyde Park area. SKY9's Stu Mendel said DWP crews were seen working on multiple transformers in the area.

Some customers, like Roy Lamb were already prepared.

"I went out and bought a bunch of batteries today, too," he said.

Lamb stocked up even before crews got to work on dozens of outages up and down the San Gabriel Valley.

SCE said the challenge at night would be restoring power in areas where crews can't readily see the damage.

They urged residents to have plans and patience to get through the night and the dry, windy fire season.

Wind gusts also brought down trees throughout the region, the worst in Fontana where a tree came down on a car and sent one person to the hospital. Another tree was also reported to have come down in Sylmar, blocking two lanes on Gladstone at Hubbard.

Red flag warnings and high wind advisories are in effect for most of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, due to the strong winds, low humidity and warmer temperatures through Tuesday.

This week's Santa Ana wind event is the first this fall, so Los Angeles County Fire has placed strike teams in three high fire hazard areas -- Santa Clarita, Agoura Hills and La Canada Flintridge.

In:
• Windy Weather