High winds whipped up havoc for thousands of residents and businesses throughout La Cañada Flintridge this week, with Southern California Edison consumers — including public and private schools — impacted by the loss of power and internet, multiple downed trees, debris and branches blocking local roads and faltering traffic lights, according to officials.
A total of 7,192 customers suffered a loss of power resulting from the high winds, an SCE spokeswoman said, as well as many traffic signals going dark on Foothill Boulevard on Monday.
Local schools were left in the dark, with La Cañada High School and St. Francis High School canceling classes on Tuesday.
LCHS 7/8 Principal Jarrett Gold said the power went out sometime before noon on Monday, and it was not restored until sometime between 5-7 a.m. on Wednesday. The district is now applying for emergency Americans With Disability Act funds to offset any financial impacts from the outage, he said.
St. Francis High School issued a statement on its website that classes were canceled on Tuesday, along with exams that day. The school said due to the closure, first quarter report cards will be pushed back one day to Oct. 25.
Over at Flintridge Prep, the power went out around noon, but workers and students “just kept going,” said front desk manager Madeline Barraclough.
Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy also experienced an outage and ended school early at 12:30 p.m., said Alisabeth McQueen, director of marketing and communications.
At the city, the facilities and maintenance superintendent worked with tree and landscaping contractors most of Monday, picking up tree limbs and debris and moving downed trees off of public streets. City officials determined there were five trees down, with two belonging to the city and three on private property, DeChellis noted.
As of 7 a.m. Tuesday, Southern California Edison had restored all power to LCF residents and businesses, but there were two traffic signals still without power. Those lights came back on at noon.
To report downed trees or blocked public streets in the future, residents may call the city’s public works department at (818) 790-8882.
