Winds up to 65 mph knock out power across L.A., Orange counties

Thousands of residents across Los Angeles County woke up Christmas morning without power after unusually high winds tore apart trees, blew away holiday decorations and prompted the California Highway Patrol to issue an advisory to freeway drivers.

In Los Angeles, winds up to 40 mph knocked out power to about 11,500 customers in Westwood, Northridge, Hollywood, downtown and Century City, according to the Department of Water and Power.

About 500 customers in Los Angeles were still without power at 3:45 p.m. Power crews have been working on repairs and are expected to get the power restored by late afternoon, DWP officials said.

More than 740 customers in Inglewood had a power outage from 3:18 a.m. to 4:21 a.m., said Southern California Edison spokeswoman Lauren Bartlett. Hundreds of people also lost power early Thursday morning in the View Park-Windsor Hills and Hawthorne areas.

At 10 a.m., power outages were still affecting more than 2,800 Edison customers in Los Angeles County. A number of the outages were caused by the wind. In Irvine, hundreds of people lost power for a few hours because of equipment problems, according to Edison’s website.

By mid-afternoon, about 1,000 Edison customers in L.A County were still without power.

A high-wind advisory, with gusts of up to 65 mph in the mountains, remained in effect until noon Thursday, said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service in Oxnard.

Residents reported that their backyard furniture and hot tub covers were blown away by the heavy gusts. Some discovered fallen trees on top of their parked cars. One palm tree in the Mid-City area caught fire early Thursday morning, showering the street with flying embers.

The weather will remain chilly through the weekend and into next week, Seto said. Another cold snap is expected for Tuesday and Wednesday, with highs in the upper-50s to low-60s.

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