A strong Santa Ana windstorm could cut off electricity to hundreds of thousands of people in Southern California, increasing the risk of wildfires.
Southern California Edison, one of the region’s largest electricity suppliers, is thinking about shutting off 409,518 residents’ power for public safety in six of the 15 counties it serves. A brief outage that occurs during hazardous weather conditions is known as a public safety power shutdown. The tactic is used by power companies to keep the system from starting wildfires, particularly when there are red flag conditions.
With an estimated 123,400 and 113,735 customers impacted in their respective counties, Riverside County and Los Angeles County will be the most affected.During the windstorm, an additional 172,383 homes in Kern, Orange, San Bernardino, and Ventura County may lose power. The potential disruptions for customers are broken down by county here:
One day prior to the storm, on Monday, there were no public safety power shutoffs.
The National Weather Service says that starting around midnight on Tuesday, the storm may bring gusts of up to 80 mph. Strong winds could bring down trees and electrical lines till Friday.
Parking near the urban-wildland regions was limited in Pasadena, one of the places predicted to be impacted by the storm. Cars parked on the impacted streets will receive citations and be towed. The limitations were made public on the city’s website.
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