More Erratic Weather Possible For Hot, Humid SoCal

LOS ANGELES (AP) — More showers and thunderstorms, along with lightning and brief heavy downpours, are possible in warm and humid Southern California before cooler and more stable air moves in by Sunday, forecasters said.

One man was injured in a lightning strike and tens of thousands utility customers lost power as erratic weather hit the region on Friday.

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In San Bernardino County, a 50-year-old man was injured by a lightning strike on a crane at a construction site next to a hospital in Fontana.

It wasn't known if the man was touching the crane or was near it, but he was thrown hard to the ground by the lightning strike, said county Fire Department spokeswoman Tracey Martinez.

The victim was hospitalized with injuries that were not life-threatening, she said.

Flash-flood warnings were issued for the San Bernardino County high desert including the city of Hesperia, and small stream flood advisories were posted in many areas of the Mojave Desert, mountains northwest of Los Angeles and in the southern San Joaquin Valley. All had been canceled by early Friday evening.

Firefighters were "chasing smokes" -- small lightning fires -- in the southern Sequoia National Forest while downpours sent water and rocks surging over Mountain Highway 99, said forest spokeswoman Cindy Thill. Thousands of acres were scorched in summer fires but it wasn't clear if the debris flow was runoff from burned areas.

California's thunderstorms were being fueled by subtropical moisture pulled into the region by a low-pressure area to the southwest, the National Weather Service said.

The unstable weather came on the heels of a heat wave that saw downtown Los Angeles reach 113 degrees Monday, the highest temperature ever posted there in 133 years of record-keeping.

On Thursday, 10 people were taken to hospitals for treatment of heat-related illnesses suffered during a cross-country event for high school students held at Pierce College in the Woodland Hills area of Los Angeles where the day's high was 97.

The Los Angeles Unified School District said 25 of its schools were among the 40 participating and it was reviewing the situation.

An LAUSD statement said coaches met beforehand and decided to proceed with the event, but a few students began to become distressed after a few races and the event was canceled at 4 p.m.

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