Los Angeles

Thunderstorms Hit Southern California, Lightning Blamed for Fires

What to Know

  • Lighting could be seen and thunder heard across a wide swath of the region and rain began falling in downtown Los Angeles.
  • Thunder claps could also be heard. Light rain and lightning were also reported in Orange County.
  • Thunderstorms and showers were expected to continue along the coasts of Los Angeles County and moving toward Ventura County.

Tens of thousands of people were without power Friday night as a thunderstorm brought lightning and rain to Southern California.

The Los Angeles Department of Water & Power reports about 10,000 of its customers are experiencing outages in various locations and field crews are working to restore service.

Edison reports at least 7,000 customers across Los Angeles County were without power.

In Los Angeles, nearly 2,000 Department of Water & Power customers in Beverly Grove are without electricity, along with 1,500 in South Central Los Angeles, 1,250 in Toluca Lake and 900 in Arlington Heights.

Lighting could be seen and thunder heard across a wide swath of the region and rain began falling in downtown Los Angeles about 7:30 p.m. after several flashes of lightning.

Lightning was blamed for fires in Santa Ana, an unincorporated area near Orange and the Los Alamitos Joint Air Base, where four Orange County Fire Authority and two base companies worked to extinguish up to 10 palm trees that caught fire following strikes, according to OCFA Capt. Steve Concialdi.

OCFA crews also responded about 10 p.m. to a traffic colllision at Bloomfield Street and Katella Avenue in Los Alamitos where a man crashed into a utility pole and live wires were on the vehicle, which came to rest against a building near the intersection, Concialdi said.

Thunder claps could also be heard. Light rain and lightning were also reported in Orange County. Lightning forced the postponement to Saturday of the football game at San Pedro High School against Banning and other games.

Thunderstorms and showers were expected to continue along the coasts of Los Angeles County and moving toward Ventura County.

Thunderstorms followed by showers were also possible on Saturday with clear weather on Sunday, said NBC4 Meteorologist David Biggar.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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