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Subscribe to RSSA new round of wind warnings have been issued for some areas of California. NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Winds calmed Monday, allowing work crews to make progress cleaning up after last week's wind storm that damaged homes across Southern California. But as thousands remained without power late Monday afternoon, a second wave of winds was expected Monday night, with gusts up to 45 mph.
At 8:30 p.m. ET, a wind advisory remained in effect until Tuesday afternoon for an area extending from north of Paso Robles to the southern part of the state.
Red-flag warnings — signaling wind and dry conditions that create a "critical" danger of fires — extended from north of Santa Barbara to south of Anaheim.
Almost 30,000 customers still had no power late Monday afternoon, Southern California Edison said. Large trees and other debris were blocking access to equipment, hampering repairs by the 273 SCE and contract crews working to restore service, it said.
"We've been working 24/7 to restore power from last week's major winds," SCE spokeswoman Lois Pitter Bruce told NBC station KNBC by email. "If all goes well, we should have 99.9 percent of customers restored by about 8 p.m. tonight."
More local coverage of the winds on NBC Los Angeles
The blackouts were the result of last week's unusual Santa Ana winds, which gusted up to 97 mph Wednesday and Thursday, knocking down trees and power lines in much of the region. The San Gabriel Valley and the Northeastern parts of Los Angeles were particularly hard hit.
In Pasadena, more than 42 buildings were red-tagged because of damage from the winds, meaning that they unsafe to live in.
"I have been with the city for over 32 years here, and I have never seen it to this degree — the widespread damage throughout the city," Pasadena Fire Chief Calvin Wells said. "It was getting out of hand at times, hard to keep up with."
NBC station KNBC-TV of Los Angeles contributed to this report by msnbc.com's Alex Johnson.
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ok Enron turn the power back on Bush is not our President
Hope that there is no more damage and no injury.
I do hope all is well for those without power but I don't really get it. I live in Wyoming and stronger winds sustained and gusts are not abnormal and power is rarely lost. Yes, the lines are overhead.
In fact when I first moved here from the coast I was shocked and amazed at the lackadasical attitude Wyomingites had regarding gale force winds.
CA is just not used to or prepared for any wind. This past April how many tornadoes hit the south within days of each other ?
Thousands of people lost their homes or power and many lost their lives. The power companies in areas that have storms every year are much better prepared and seem to mobilize faster and help each other. I have been amazed at the work they do in the south and how fast they are able to restore services when really bad storms hit.
*yawn*
Awww, what's wrong Cali? Can't handle a little wind? Don't use it to stir your coffee like those quakes we had here on the east coast? Those winds are nothing. It's a summer breeze. Pfft.
I call that bad karma for your bs comments a few months ago torwards the east coast when we had those quakes.
Not that I see the big deal. It's not like California is dealing with freezing temps without power.
Good news ! maybe they'll go back to mexxxico.
Lucky there were no Fires. California would be a cinder in seconds with winds like that.
well Pasadena ( and neighboring cities with same attitude ) you fought to keep all those old trees and now they blew over and took out the power poles and the power lines.....and the reporters are blaming the wind........old trees that are watered by lawn sprinklers have very shallow root system and branches that 'grab' wires as they go down which snaps power poles and the domino effect continues. This was all so preventable.
Dont let the FED know about the downed-tree problems or else B.O. will put a moratorium on tress!!!
Food for thought.... This is just a warm-up and a good lesson in preparedness. If you're stressed by a few thousand customers being without power for a few days then you're going to love what could happen in an EMP event or significant geomagnetic storm that takes out the grid, or a large part of it.
What have you done to prepare for such an event that would take months or YEARS to recover from? What should we be doing NOW to mitigate it, both individually and as a nation?
Just sayin'...