Neighborhoods across LA County remain without power in midst of wildfires, powerful windstorm

While multiple wildfires still rage and strong winds batter Los Angeles County, widespread power outages persist for many Angelenos.

Since the windstorm began on Tuesday — a key factor in what caused the Palisades and Eaton Fires to engulf tens of thousands of acres in just hours — residents across the county have been impacted by the loss of electricity at the same time. 

At the peak of the outages, more than 200,000 homes and businesses were affected across areas serviced by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and SoCal Edison. Though officials say power has been restored to most customers, more than 90,000 remained in the dark as of Friday morning.

Phillip Lester and his wife have been without power for three days in their North Hollywood home, living with just a few small generators to power lamps at night and their refrigerator. 

"I know a lot of places got their power turned off, and that was places that were closer to the fires," Lester said. "We don't know why our power is out, we haven't been given any explanation."

LADWP trucks could be seen working through the night on Thursday, trying to restore power to everyone impacted. They say that the estimated timetable to restore power to most places remains between 24 and 48 hours. 

Though irritated with the inconvenience, Lester knows that it's far from what many around him have had to deal with in recent days.

"I hope that the people who have lost their homes, you know, can stay strong and find a way to get through it," he said. "My heart goes out to them, I really feel for those people."