First published in the Oct. 14 print issue of the Outlook Valley Sun.
Gusty winds early this week left thousands of Californians temporarily without power, and some of them were La Cañada Flintridge residents.
A wind advisory that went into effect Monday afternoon lasted through Tuesday morning amid gusts surpassing 20 mph in the area, according to the National Weather Service.
Southern California Edison said 2,173 of its customers in La Cañada Flintridge and Montrose-La Crescenta were affected by the outage that occurred on Monday at 7:43 p.m.
“Crews worked as quickly as safety allowed to restore power at 9:36 p.m. The cause of the outage was due to high winds,” said Reggie Kumar, a spokesman for Edison.
With strong winds, warm weather and dry conditions, the Weather Service issued a red flag warning signaling the potential for fires. It will go into effect on Friday for most of Los Angeles County.
The county encouraged residents to read its “Ready! Set! Go!” brochure online to prevent and prepare for wildfires.
In anticipation of possible power outages due to winds, Edison suggests that residents make a safety preparedness plan and have flashlights and batteries stored in a place where they are easily accessible in the dark along with bottled water, a first-aid kit, non-perishable food, ice chests and a battery-operated radio in case cellphone service goes down.
