Crews Work To Restore Electricity After Wet Winter Storms Hit Southern California
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Crews worked to repair massive power outages across the Southland Monday following a winter storm that struck over the weekend.
At this time, a total of more than 50,000 customers are waiting for electricity -- including 34,000 Southern California Edison customers and about 22,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers. At the height of the storm, around 143,000 residents were without power.
According to the National Weather Service, a wind advisory was issued warning of winds gusting up to 50 mph.
All Rim of the World Unified School District schools will be closed today due to icy roadway conditions and freezing temperatures. Schools in the Bear Valley Unified School District will also be closed today due to wind and snow conditions.
CBS2's Kara Finnstrom reported Gardena was one of the areas that was hit the hardest by the weekend storm, which brought powerful winds, heavy rain and snow.
Meanwhile, a motorist was fatally struck by a large oak tree that toppled by a residential street in Pacific Beach in San Diego on Sunday.
The tree, which measured 8 feet in diameter, also crushed three parked cars that were not occupied, he said.
"To the people out here dealing with the rain: be careful, drive slowly and arrive alive," Amador said.
Strong winds downed dozens of trees and power poles and ripped off rooftops — and in one case, solar panels — across Southern California.
Wind gusts topped 50 mph in the San Diego area and 65 mph in Malibu, according to the National Weather Service. The highest reading of the day was at Whitaker Peak, north of Castaic, where a gust was recorded at 115 mph.
The storm also dropped up to an inch of rain in some places by 4 p.m. Sunday, and forecasters said up to 2 inches of rain was expected in the valleys of Los Angeles County and as many as 3 inches possible for southwest-facing foothills and mountains.
A flash flood watch was issued for foothill neighborhoods underneath wildfire burn areas, triggering fears of possible mudslides and debris flows. The threat subsided by late Sunday as the storm moved out of the area.
Blinding rain briefly brought traffic to a near-standstill on LA freeways. North of the city, a crash during a heavy downpour involving two trucks closed southbound lanes of Interstate 5 near the Grapevine. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The storm also churned up high surf along west and northwest-facing beaches. The rough seas prompted authorities to close the piers at Redondo Beach and Manhattan Beach.
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