Dangerous winds knocked out power to thousands of Southern Californians Monday, from Norwalk to Palmdale, with gusts reaching 70 mph in valley and desert areas.
The strength of the winds impacted driving conditions and downed power lines and trees, according to a National Weather Service wind advisory that is in effect until 6 a.m. Tuesday.
“It’s going to create some very poor visibilities and make for some very dangerous driving conditions,” said NBC4 forecaster Elita Loresca.
Early Monday evening more than 3,000 Norwalk residents were without power, making that community the hardest hit by the outages, according to Southern California Edison. More than 700 Elsinore residents had lost power, as well as more than 500 in Palmdale. Scattered outages were also reported in Rosemead, San Gabriel, Altadena, Pomona, La Habra, and Lancaster.
In Hawthorne, a tree fell across a resident’s front yard and onto a power line Monday morning. No injuries were reported, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Tree branches broke and fell onto a car in Manhattan Beach (pictured right).
The gusts began Monday morning at speeds 25 mph at Los Angeles International Airport; 23 mph in Burbank, 23 mph in Oxnard and Apple Valley; and 30 in Oxnard.
Gusts are expected to continue blowing between 60 and 80 mph into Monday night in the metro area, Ventura, Inland Empire and mountains.
Along the coastline, winds could reach 45 to 50 mph, creating large breakers and hazardous swimming conditions. Waves are predicted to climb to 7-to-9 feet in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and 5-to-8 feet in Orange County.
“Storm force and gale force winds across the coastal waters will produce a large wind driven swell from [Monday] through Tuesday morning,” according to the National Weather Service.
Winds are predicted to settle down Monday evening along the coast.
“By tonight you can expect those winds to begin to relax as we see most of those winds confined to the mountains and the deserts,” Loresca said.
