California Power Outages Affect 8,000 over Holiday Weekend

Residents of Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Kern, and Orange counties were reportedly affected by California power outages initiated by a power company right before Thanksgiving.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Southern California Edison cut power to 8,000 over concerns about weather conditions that could exacerbate California wildfire damage. The company announced that another 100,000 or more may also face shut offs as meteorologists monitor wind conditions in the area.

“We are really sympathetic about this happening, number one, during the pandemic when people are at home, and two, during the holiday,” a representative for Edison told the LA Times. The company reportedly provided resource centers for affected residents and also distributed water, food, and charging stations. In addition, Edison reportedly offered links to hotels with discounted rates for residents of areas affected by extended outages.

The company told CBS News that it hopes to restore power as soon as possible, but it cannot be certain how long California power outages might last.

The California power outages were reportedly announced by the company on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. On Thursday, the LA Times reported that approximately 3,000 Ventura County, 2,600 Orange County, and 1,200 Los Angeles and San Bernardino county residents were without power that evening.

California Power Outages a Risk Assessment

The company told reporters that the decision to turn the power off to certain areas was part of a risk assessment as the state continues to experience wildfire conditions. Reportedly, the notorious Santa Ana winds were to blame, with the potential for 65 mile per hour gusts through the San Fernando Valley and Santa Monica Mountains predicted prior to the holiday weekend.

According to Accu Weather, the Santa Anas refer to high speed winds that start in the mountains on the coast of Southern California and blow in a northeasterly direction across the beaches. In addition to increasing the risk of wildfire, even moderate Santa Ana winds can kick up debris and break tree branches as they try to squeeze through mountain passes and downhill. The winds become dangerous because, in addition to their speed, the air dries out as it comes down from the mountains.

The LA Times reports that the area stayed under a red flag warning for the winds and wildfire conditions throughout the weekend.

Area Continues to Experience Dry Conditions

A meteorologist from the National Weather Service explained to the Orange County Register that Southern California will likely continue to experience dry conditions after the holiday weekend, though the winds are not expected to be as strong.

“You’ve got very low humidity, with 10 percent humidity or less in some of the mountain areas,” Brandt Maxwell of the NWS in San Diego told reporters. “Generally (the fire concerns are) the areas where you have the strongest wind gusts, such as places below the Cajon Pass, along I-10 through Banning and the San Gorgonio Pass.”

Indeed, according to CBS News, the 2020 California wildfire season has been devastating, leading over 30 people dead and destroying or damaging over 10,000 structures. More than 60,000 Californians were forced to evacuate due to wildfire this year.

The power company, Southern California Edison, has reportedly been investigated as the cause of one California wildfire – the Bobcat Fire. According to ABC 7, investigators pointed to tree branches coming into contact with Southern California Edison equipment as the source of the blaze that started in early September of this year and burned nearly 116,000 acres of the Angeles Nation Forest. That fire reportedly destroyed 171 structures, including over 80 homes.