Mayor Villaraigosa Asks Residents To Stay Indoors, Brace For More Winds

December 1, 2011 6:58 PM

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LOS ANGELES (CBS) — Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday it will take days to clean up after what he called a “once in a generation” wind event, and he urged residents to stay indoors and brace for another night of strong winds.

“I’m asking for your patience,” Villaraigosa said.

He urged residents to stay in their homes if possible and to drive cautiously if driving is unavoidable.

Mayor Villaraigosa Asks Residents To Stay Indoors, Brace For More Winds

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The mayor said residents should call 9-1-1 if there is a downed power line or any other emergency, but he said the city’s 3-1-1 information line would remain on overnight to accept reports about downed trees or other public works problems.

Hours of forceful, sustained wind overnight winds, with some gusts reaching 100 mph in northeast Los Angeles, caused heavy damage across the city Wednesday and Thursday, including 25 structure fires.

The Los Angeles Fire Department received a total of 1,425 calls between midnight and early afternoon, putting the department on track to double the number of calls it receives on an average day.

Fire Chief Brian Cummings said he will deploy 21 additional fire companies, mostly to the San Fernando Valley where forecasters predict the winds will be at their strongest Thursday night.

Cummings said a red flag warning will remain in effect until at least 8 p.m. Friday.

Villaraigosa said the Santa Ana winds are a “very dynamic event that is still unfolding.”

Department of Water and Power General Manager Ron Nichols said Wednesday night’s winds killed power to more than 200,000 residences. The department deployed all of its crews and also pulled 20 crews from power generation stations in Utah and Arizona to assist with restoring power.

“This isn’t just a matter of a few limbs. This isn’t a matter of some palm fronds that we can quickly get out there and clear things,” Nichols said, adding that customers should expect response times that could reach upwards of 48 hours.

Deflecting criticism of the department’s handling of power restoration, Nichols said, “You couldn’t afford to design a system to sustain these types of events. Instead, we train our people to get out there fast, to get out there safely and bring it back up as quickly as possible.”

Winds are predicted to pick up again Thursday night.

Los Angeles County declared a state of emergency earlier Thursday, and several cities within the San Gabriel Valley declared local emergencies.

SCHOOL CLOSURES:

According to the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the
following school districts will be closed Friday due to the wind:

Alhambra Unified School District
Arcadia Unified School District
Azusa Unified School District
Baldwin Park Unified School District
Duarte Unified School District
Monrovia Unified School District

Pasadena Unified School District, which also has canceled all after
school program, events and sports-related activities at its campuses.

San Gabriel Unified School District
South Pasadena Unified School District
Temple City Unified School District

The La Canada Unified School District is expected to make a decision on its status at about 6:30 a.m. the San Marino Unified School District expects schools to be open Friday. A decision has not yet been made by the Glendora Unified School District.

» PHOTOS: Wild Wind Damage

http://losangelesforme.com/2011/12/mayor-villaraigosa-asks-residents-to-stay-indoors-brace-for-more-winds/ Mayor Villaraigosa Asks Residents To Stay Indoors, Brace For More Winds | Los Angeles for Me

[...] Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday it will take days to clean up after what he called a “once in a generation” wind event, and he urged residents to stay indoors and brace for another night of strong winds. More from: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com… [...]
ScottHB

I see these stories and I think, “I’m 50 years old. When I was a kid, a windstorm would blow and people would be without power. The politicians would calm the mob and send trucks out to put up oil-soaked poles made of trees and hang the wires until the next wind storm. We are so fragile and backward. There is no forward movement with our infrastructure. We should expect more from ourselves.

DV

Since you obviosuly have an agenda seeing that your comment is typical left-wing union rhetoric…Yes, lets all pay more in taxes so that a bunch of otherwise usless public union employees can have something to do for 3 hours a day under the guise of “strengthening our infrastructure” (to what by the way, do you want to bury all of LA’s power lines?) the stated goal being that when a “once in a generation” wind storm, a few poles wont be knocked down?

Obamawhammy

Derp.
John

Obviously you are a right wing fascist shill since the above comment had nothing to do with politics or unions, but our crumbling infrastructure. It is sickening that all discourse is poisoned by operatives with agendas to divide and disrupt. Any story no matter how remotely distant from the political sphere is tagged with Bush’s Fault or some comment about union or public sector workers. The propaganda attack is in full swing and unfortunately we are all subject to these pathetic, moronic comments in an attempt to derail any logical thought and debate within our country. Shame.
JustAGuy

@John, Right wing fascist shill? That doesn’t sound like something that would come from someone seeking logical thought or debate.

How do we know you’re not a left-wing fascist shill?
Terrance Wood

ScottHB has a point. Then again, we waste a good amount of the energy we convert to a usable form. We should raise Tesla from the dead. I think he had some fantastic ideas, and the persistence to boot. For all you tyrannical haters, with nothing better to do than have a not-so-civilized discourse–I’ll stop breathing so your wind stops, when I feel like it.
black john

@john-The above comment was actually making progressive ideological statements veiled by general statements. If you took the time to actually read the comment, and use critical thinking instead of looking for “left wing rhetoric” big words, you might actually see it. Use your brain a little; you might understand what both ScottHB and DV understood
TheRealKingMax

DV….

You’re kidding us, right?

Seriously???
carl

Fascism is associated with socialism which is, in turn, associated with the left. Capitalism, the opposite of fascism, is associated with the right. Case-in-point: President Obama taking over the banks, General Motors, and the entire health care system. It is known President Obama is very left leaning.

Fluidizer

True enough, though It is sometimes fun to watch our replacements whine and cry and squat in the parks.
Its pity for our grandchildren however. Each generation has a responsibility to pass off the country to next one in as good of shape, or better, then it was when it was passed to them. Thanks to the Obama Regime and the citizens that installed him into office, I fear our grandchildren will have much to resentful about, and a whole lot of work dumped on their shoulders.

Rick

The official responsible for fixing the damage said it correctly. It is not feasible to replace all overhead electric service with underground. Underground wires are approximately 10 times more expensive to install and they are much harder to upgrade or service.

Also, what if an earthquake would cause widespread damage to underground wires…what do you think would be easier to fix?

Bubba Johnson

Bush’s fault.

klauszus

Everything is Bushe’s fault, but Obama tries hard,
http://junknfunk.wordpress.com junknfunk

Huh?

thebigred1

greetings

scottHB you have a handle on the problem, we need to do a nation wide infrastucture upgrade, after all infrastucure is what made America the greatest industrial and economic nation in the world? the problems started when greed kicked in, we need to upgrade this cost money, you have a group greedy people who want all the benefits of government(infrastucture for one) but not pay for it, sounds like a good deal if you can get, but not very ethical sounding.

michael

I thought the $787bil stimulus package was going towards shovel ready projects meant to boost infastructure. Oh wait, that money was to go to all of the cronies that helped complie the billion dollars Obama needed to win the election. This next round of stimulus.. err.. jobs bill will be TOTALLY legit though.. just trust us this last time. THE ECONOMY IS AT STAKE!!! ACT NOW!!!

David Peterson

People on here are ridiculous..complaining about public workers. When I was at Countrywide, some people never lifted a finger at their jobs. it is like that at a lot of places. work slows down, and the computer makes things more efficient. if anything, the public workers work harder than all of us. No close bathrooms or toilets anywhere, and they perform rugged industrial type work if they are repairing a downed telephone or electrical grid. Not the easiest of jobs. I’d fear electrocution no matter how safe it is. Yet people complain behind their desk and their cozy computers at home.

Raymond

David, Franklin D. Roosevelt wasn’t a fan on Public Employee Unions either. Link: http://www.laborunionreport.com/portal/2010/10/unions-patron-saint-fdr-rejected-public-sector-unions/ In the letter that He wrote to the president of the National Federation of Federal Employees in 1937: “… Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations … The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for … officials … to bind the employer … The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives …

“Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees. Upon employees in the federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people … This obligation is paramount … A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent … to prevent or obstruct … Government … Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government … is unthinkable and intolerable.”
Raymond

I’d suggest that You remember what FDR said about Public Employee Unions. National Federation of Federal Employees in 1937, Roosevelt reasoned:

“… Meticulous attention should be paid to the special relationships and obligations of public servants to the public itself and to the government. All Government employees should realize that the process of collective bargaining, as usually understood, cannot be transplanted into the public service. It has its distinct and insurmountable limitations … The very nature and purposes of Government make it impossible for … officials … to bind the employer … The employer is the whole people, who speak by means of laws enacted by their representatives …

“Particularly, I want to emphasize my conviction that militant tactics have no place in the functions of any organization of government employees. Upon employees in the federal service rests the obligation to serve the whole people … This obligation is paramount … A strike of public employees manifests nothing less than an intent … to prevent or obstruct … Government … Such action, looking toward the paralysis of Government … is unthinkable and intolerable.” Link: http://www.laborunionreport.com/portal/2010/10/unions-patron-saint-fdr-rejected-public-sector-unions/

Wesley Smith

i concur, unfortunately perhaps monetary gain isn’t the best motivator of a mass population?
Yogi Bears Tie

So you want to spend oodles of money to hire government workers to prevent blowing wind from causing power disruptions? How much will these blow jobs cost taxpayers?

ConservativeRedneck

That would be a good question for Bill Clinton.

kala

unless you live in california you don’t get how strong these winds are.

Dave Shaffer

I was four years old when Carla hit the Gulf Coast. It was a Cat 5. So, Cali ain’t the only place that gets a bit windy.
http://junknfunk.wordpress.com junknfunk

Give it break, I live in their path and these winds were nothing to be all excited about, they are not the strongest recorded certainly in my lifetime and certainly not in my son’s lifetime and certainly not in the lifetime of the 6 year old living next door!

The only difference is that Los Angeles got the brunt of the wind this time so they are all uptight and wetting their nickers over it and claiming it is once in a lifetime.

Must be pretty short lifespans down there in the valley!
Raymond

@junknfunk , I wouldn’t be lecturing People concerning whether or not they have experienced winds like this or not. That’s unless you’re personally knowledgeable concerning the experiences of the People that you’re critizing. For the record, I’ve experienced a “Microburst” on the ground while I was at work in the Parking Lot while I was taking a work break. It happened at night & shoke My car & every car in the Parking Lot. The funny thing is that The Parking Lot is in line of a Airport Runway & a Plane had flown over the Parking Lot about 3 minutes before the Microburst happened. Also, I’m sure that these winds are comparable to the Winds that occurred during the days of the Dust Bowl of the Grain Plains. Never underestimate Mother Nature.

Musicman

Hmm, that would be creosote soaked wood. I don’t know where you live, but here where I live, they are underground. Didn’t have the technology to do that back then. I remember days long ago how our air was brown from the leaded gas burned in the old 454′s and such that only got about 5 miles to the gallon. Gotta love this new technology that now gives my 5.9 liter Dodge truck about 20 MPH. And runs on 89 octane, grain alcohol blended gasoline. These space shuttles still amaze me. And I haven’t even brought up computers and the cyber world yet. Cell phones? Ever seen the dams at Diamond valley lake?Largest earthen dam project in the history of the nation. Unbelievable tech involved there…
yarply

Your right. You would think that we would update our power systems from above ground to underground systems which are not effected by wind rain or the elements except severe earthquakes. There never is forward movement in a welfare system in which there is no incentive to work for large numbers of the population. Couple that with illegal immigration, over regulation and political corruption and I’m surprised we as a country are doing as well as we are.
Erick Blair

I grew up in SoCal. Trust me this kind of weather has been going on for a long, long time. This isn’t about ideology or even infrastructure. It’s about the response teams and the community. There is no way to feasibly build all infrastructure to eliminate this. Impossible.

Paul West

The wind storm was nice but the “Big One” would have been better

Jim in Houston

We have a big wind storm in the White House and just like a Santa Anna, it’s all hot air!
D.j. Elias

lol……I’m anxiously waiting for the big one. I know there are many trees and power lights and people living without power. LADWP, is having a hard time restoring all services. I wonder how it would be it the BIG ONE had hit. Brace yourself and be prepare.

Tom m

As usual the mayor exaggerates….
Anon

“once in a generation” wind event”

Thanks to the number of Mexicans in California, once a generation is like every other week.

DonnyQuest

As a Born and Raised and moved away Native Californian…Dittos my Brother.

TBC: Take Back California

Musicman

I’m on board for that…

Baldy Kirby from Atlanta

Oh, but the wind farms should have made so much power from this storm….

Ha ha!

JustAGuy

Haven’t you heard? Windmills can’t run when the wind is too strong or it’s too cold, or when the wind is too light.

It will be interesting when the green brain-trust has us totally switched over to green energy. I hope they invent HUGE batteries.

bumpkin

their huge batteries keep catching fire! melt down fat things and dip tallow candles… and for Heaven’s sake, dont tie them to the Christmas tree!

solarman

what the weather people still wont clarify is why this is occurring.. it has nothing to do with the weather patterns.. this has all to do with the suns current solar cycle and the fact that a coronal mass ejection, as well as a solar wind stream from an explosion on the sun, has initiated this wind storm.. our atmosphere is being compressed by the force of the space weather/solar wind.. at some points in our atmosphere, especially near the arctic circle, this solar wind can get inside our planet.. my question is why after all these months has this not been explained to the american people.. this has been going on for months now and the suns current solar cycle is certainly the cause of this.. we are witnessing a historic solar cycle never seen before.. any astronomers and space weather nuts will know what im talking about.. its not just the earths weather system causing this…

JustAGuy

Hey solarman, EVERY Climate Change Cultist knows the sun has nothing to do with global warming! It’s those darn SUV’s and incandescent lightbulbs!
Fluidizer

They don’t want anything to detract to from the man-made climate change hoax. Simple as that.

prutt

you nailed it buddy

Commentitus Magnus

FINALLY… a decent comment.
Raymond

solarman. You’re very informed about the way our Weather works. More so than Al Gore. I was thinking about one thing though. If alot of those People in Los Angeles followed the advice of others & had Wind Turbines, Southern California would be awash in Electricity & could sell it off!

Raymond

Wind Turbines on their Houses, that is!

Hello.

Calgary, Alberta, CANADA just had such a windstorm last week, cost millions in damages and they shut the downtown core for the day due to the velocity of the windborne projectiles flying around.

JohnB089057

Candyarses complaining about a wee bit of wind.
JohnB089057

@solarman
Man made global warming. Don’t you watch TV man!
Justin Tyme

One way to clean up the Pershing Square…
Paul

Tony takes better care of the occupiers than his constituents that should expect power restoration in hours rather than days. It is probably illegal to store transformers in la county so they ship them from Nevada.

Tony sucks as a mayor. All city services cost up to 3 times more than when he came in with less services.

Go Union boy!!
Jan Zeiters

This is the annual “Storm of the century”, cheer up folks as the climate warms it’ll get worse, stronger storms and heavier snow and rain.

Fluidizer

Exactly right! why, as the climate gets warmer, we are all going to freeze under heavy snow!
Derp..

JustAGuy

Of course! Ever seen the movie “The Day After”? That’s based on real climate science. When the globe starts warming, we are inundated with huge snow storms and great freezing.

EllieEnlightened

No such thing more emails were proven it a hoax. What arrogance makes anyone think they can control the climate. MORONS.

Mike O

God Looking For OWS Fidiots.
Fluidizer

Clearly, this is all the fault of George W. Bush, man-made “climate change”, and the Wall Street evil rich people.
Jim in Houston

Maybe it will blow away some of the 30 tons of trash left by those lovely OW folks.

Fluidizer

Or at least the stench.

dudeguy

I kind of wish they were still there so they would blow away with the trash and stench… oh wait, OWS is trash and stench…

http://www.fastnews.tv/?p=121987 LA hit with 'once in a generation' wind storm… | Breaking News

[...] (First column, 3rd story, link) [...]
solarman

i tried to get some more interesting info out to some of you readers here about the solar cycle.. i nailed some really good points to show some readers that arent to familiar with it.. problem is the site wouldnt post them.. nothing negative, just really good insight into the real natural issues facing our planet, that we really have no control over.. nasa would not have put up the soho observatory, if they thought the sun had nothing to do with global warming, its actually solar system warming, cause the other planets are currently being effected as well.. mercury has been taking a beating as well as venus.. last cme blew some of her atmosphere clear off the planet and mercury has no atmosphere, so the solar plasma is literally eroding mercury itself. this is all that real and at this day in age with the issues this world is facing.. it would be nice if people were told the real cause and not get there heads filled with hot air, being told not to drill.. we need to drill to keep people off the streets and get them to work. i love the beauty of nature myself, but there is no reason whatsoever why we shouldnt be drilling in this country.

JustAGuy

I read your previous post, and it was informative. I’m of the opinion that within the scientific community, there’s the debate between pure science, and political and funding driven science, we know as the Climate Change debate.

A couple months ago, I was involved in an internet debate on AGW. One of the proponents, who haoppened to come off as knowlagable and an authority on the topic actually said: “We now know the sun has something to do with it…” I’m not making that up, he actually said that.

When I pointed out to him the absurdity of that statement, he defended it and shifted the topic.

solarman

ya know, the whole science of it and just wanting to know the true causes, makes you go those extra distances to see what fits, and what makes sense.. theres quite a few sites you can moniter now to connect the dots urself. usgs site for quakes, im a new yorker, but im sure you peeps in cali have been watching the usgs page for many years.. all the suns recent activity has had a direct effect on our planet, weather etc.. if you take a look in the spaceweather.com archive, right before march 11th of this year, the sun blew off a coronal mass ejection and there was also a coronal hole which was pushing a solar wind stream our way.. the flare and or cme that occured was an x-class flare.. which are the strongest flares that sunspots can have.. just within the last few years, we have been having our very first x-class flares and when there earth directed, they cause geomagnetic storms, which literally vibrate our planet…. thus… creating an earthquake… like the 9.0 we saw rock japan in march.. now its those same geomagnetic storms that create the beautiful northern lights, so as beautiful as they are, its actually causing havoc to our atmosphere and our planet.. its that right there which is also the reason we are currently investigating mars with all of our might to make the earth mars connection. it will soon be revealed that mars was once an earthly planet, but after several million years of solar cycles, “like the ones we are currently in”, mars’s atmosphere was blown to nothing, thus revealing the bare surface to that solar plasma, which has completely dried the planet out…. so theres so much there to proove how space weather and solar activity from the sun truly effect our planet. global warming in theory, which is exactly what it is a theory.. it can be easily believable to the modern day civilian who just doesnt grasp the big picture. interesting stuff…

solarman

not just for drilling for oil here, but for any industry that will put as back to work and make us a great nation again.. we dont have time for left wing political games anymore..
dave

I’m sure they will blame President Bush for this mess.
EllieEnlightened

Should have blown the whole state away.
sniper310

It was just Nancy Pelosi passing gas…
David Peterson

I see a lot of ridiculous comments here.
I am proud to live in the Greatest State in the World..CALIFORNIA.
The least racist and most diverse State in the Union.
Go leave your comments to those other States please.

JustAGuy

HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!

I’m FROM California, lived there half my life. You can’t fool me! Cali is a MESS!!!!!!

You wanna know the secret racism that is rampant in Cali? Latinos against blacks! It’s the unspoken racism, but I know victims of this racism.
stevefraser

Least racist? The majority Mexicans detest the Whites have already drivien the Blacks from their neighborhoods….what planet have you been vacationing on?
Jim in Houston

Davy you need to put down the bong and go back to sleep.

OnTheRoadALot

I see a lot of ridiculous comments too. Yours is one of them.
http://sebassh.wordpress.com sebassh

Mayor Tallywhacker, a guy who couldn’t run his original marriage let alone a large city and was elected via his race rather then his qualification of being the dumbest potential mayor in the world history, has forgotten that we always get wind. Heck there are times we have see 90 mph winds before, this is nothing new, seriously.

But I must presume this idiot mayor will use this to keep people indoors while he chases more news skirts; after all, why not distract the press while you take your latest news skirt to a free-at-the-floor Lakers game with tickets you received for favors. Way to go Mayor Tallywhacker!
ConservativeRedneck

MICHAEL MOORE BURPED?

Jim in Houston

More like Mikey farted.

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Mayor Villaraigosa Asks Residents To Stay Indoors, Brace For More Winds

December 1, 2011 6:58 PM

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