Winds Cause Problems in Southern California

While power crews tried to restore power to more than 430,000 homes in Southern California as residents braced for a second night of unusually powerful Santa Ana winds.

Severe winds and fallen trees hampered repair crews yesterday and residents near downed or dangling lines should stay inside, Southern California Edison, which said in a statement that 215,086 customers had lost service.

Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency because of the unusually strong Santa Ana conditions that result when wind rushes through ridges that surround the second-largest U.S. city. Strong winds are forecast to continue through mid-day today, with gusts near 60 miles per hour -- approaching gale force --in the mountains of Ventura and Los Angeles counties, the National Weather Service forecast on its website.

The hardest-hit areas in Edison’s service area included foothill communities of La Canada Flintridge, Monrovia and Altadena. Pasadena, which has its own utility, declared a state of emergency, as did neighboring Sierra Madre.

Hurricane-force winds downed powerline and caused flights to Los Angeles International Airport to be diverted in the early hours of Dec. 1.

Santa Ana winds -- dry, warm gusts that blow in from the desert -- reached 140 miles per hour along mountain crests yesterday, according to the National Weather Service.

It’s “the strongest easterly wind event in the past several years,” and the gusts combined with dry weather are creating a “significant fire threat,” the service said on its website.