Wind knocks out power for thousands of residents in L.A. County

Thousands of residents were left without power Tuesday evening after strong winds blew through the Southland, snapping tree branches that wreaked havoc on streets, rooftops and power lines.

Using #LAWind, some residents reminisced on social media about scenes from the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz,” feeling like their homes, shaken by the wind, might blow away.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said its crews were responding to multiple outages. As of 10 p.m., about 35,000 DWP customers were without power and the utility advised customers to plan to be without power for between 12 and 24 hours.

“Although our crews often beat those estimates,” the public utility said on Twitter.

The high winds also caused 18 outages in L.A. County affecting about 3,500 Southern California Edison customers.

“During a power outage our top priority is the public’s safety,” Southern California Edison spokesman Reggie Kumar said in a statement. “Most importantly, stay away from downed power lines and call 911. Our crews are specially trained to safely repair outage damage and hazards.”

Strong wind gusts along the coast created large, choppy seas, prompting the National Weather Service in L.A. to advise only the most experienced mariners to attempt to operate vessels in the tumultuous water.

Traffic was affected in multiple locations as large branches fell into roadways.

A fallen tree blocked a few westbound lanes of Interstate 10, east of Crenshaw Boulevard, for about two hours. In Long Beach, a toppled tree blocked traffic near Long Beach Boulevard off the 710.

Henninger Flats, which sits near Eaton Canyon Falls, saw peak wind gusts of 65 mph about 8 p.m.

Malibu saw gusts Tuesday night of 49 mph, and Inglewood had 39-mph gusts, according to the National Weather Service.