Community Corner
Santa Ana Winds Gone, Will Return Monday
Winds were reported to be calm at nearly every measuring station Sunday morning.
Fierce Santa Ana winds took today off, but may return Monday, and utility crews continued to toil to restore power to about 57,000 houses and businesses blacked out by last week's windstorms.
Winds were reported to be calm at nearly every measuring station Sunday
morning but Red Flag Warnings were scheduled to go up early Monday, as a
traditional-style Santa Ana was to arrive.
The National Weather Service said high winds will develop in mountains
and canyons after midnight, and will spread to coastal areas as the sun rises
Monday.
Gusts reaching 70 mph can be expected in the mountainous areas that
traditionally see the highest gusts.
"We're looking for more of your typical Santa Ana affair," said NWS meterologist David Sweet.
Humidity readings will drop to around 10 percent, making the brushfire
potential very high, the NWS said. Red Flag Warnings were scheduled to go up at 6 a.m. in the flatlands of Los Angeles.
Find out what's happening in Glendorawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Nearly 300 L.A. County firefighters will remain deployed in fire-prone areas in the northern and western mountains, firefighters said.
But the NWS forecaster said the hard-hit areas of the San Gabriel Valley foothills, which saw hurricane-force winds Wednesday, will be spared the brunt of Monday's winds.
"We're probably looking at wind gusts of 35 or maybe 40 miles an hour there," Sweet said.
Find out what's happening in Glendorawith free, real-time updates from Patch.
In Los Angeles, the Department of Water and Power had up to 138 crews
working for four straight nights, and finished fixing 1,600 electrical problems
at 10 a.m. today, said spokesman Joseph Ramallo.
Some of those problems affected tens of thousands of people, but all the major storm repairs had been completed by nightfall Saturday, when 1,000 customers had remained dark.
Some 500 Southern California Edison crews, many again working through
the night, had restored service to all but about 57,573 customer accounts still
blacked out by 5:30 a.m. today, Edison spokeswoman Lois Pitter Bruce told City
News Service.
The SCE outages were largely along the San Gabriel Valley foothills from
Pasadena east, where "near hurricane force winds'' caused flying debris to
knock over power poles, the utility's spokesman said.
Wilderness Park, the Arcadia Public Library and the Los Angeles County
Arboretum remain closed until further notice.
