Powerful wind gusts are expected Thursday and into Friday after a night of power outages in Silver Lake, Hollywood, Carson and other parts of Southern California during the start of what might be the most significant wind event of the season.
Wind speeds increased late Wednesday -- scattering debris and leading to some power outages -- and strong gusts up to 65 mph are possible Thursday. A high wind warning was issued through Friday night for portions of Orange County, the Riverside County mountains and the Coachella Valley.
"If you have loose stuff in your backyard that needs to be secured, do that -- winds are going to pick up," said NBC4 forecaster Byron Miranda. "We could have tropical-storm force winds later tonight.
"This is probably going to be the strongest wind event we've seen this season."
Between 9 p.m. Wednesday and 9 a.m. Thursday, gusts of 46 mph were reported in Malibu Hills and even higher in various spots in the San Gabriel Mountains, according to the National Weather Service. Gusts of 61 mph were recorded at Whitaker Peak northwest of Castaic.
A red flag warning, indicating high fire danger, will be in effect for much of Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles Fire Department was pre-positioning resources in high-risk areas, said department spokesman Erik Scott.
Red flag parking restrictions will go into effect at 8 a.m.
Wind speeds are expected to decrease Friday and into Saturday morning.
The DWP reported on its website around 10:30 p.m. Wednesday that service was interrupted for 1,600 customers in Silver Lake and for another 1,000 in the Hollywood-Los Feliz area. Crews restored power to about 2,000 customers by early Thursday morning.
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The lone major power problem late Thursday morning was reported in the Beverly Crest area near Muholland Drive. About 1,000 customers were without power.
Utility crews blocked off the intersection of Beverly Boulevard and Virgil Avenue in the Silver Lake area early Thursday after downed power lines fell on the street.
Most of the LADWP outages were believed to be wind-related.
Power Outage Reports: LADWP | SoCal Edison
More than 5,500 customers were impacted by an outage caused by a traffic accident in the Alhambra area, according to SoCal Edison's website.The estimated restoration time was 11 a.m. Edison also reported outages in Carson and West Hollywood early Thursday, but there were not imajor outages reported Thursday afternoon.
In Beverly Hills, a 30-foot tall tree toppled at about 1:30 a.m. The tree blocked part of Shadowhill Way.