High winds continue to sweep through SoCal
LOS ANGELES - Fierce winds continued to batter parts of the Southland Saturday, toppling trees and causing scattered power outages.
A high wind warning that took effect at 3 p.m. Friday in the Santa Monica Mountains, the Santa Clarita and San Fernando valleys and the Los Angeles County Mountains was expected to expire at 3 p.m. Saturday.
The advisories came with warnings that the high winds can blow around unsecured objects and make driving difficult, especially for high-profile vehicles. Areas noted by the weather service for caution include the 5 and 14 freeways.
According to the National Weather Service, the L.A. County Mountains experienced winds of 35 mph to 45 mph, with gusts of 70 mph, and isolated gusts near 80 mph in the western portion of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Other areas covered by the warning saw 25 mph to 35 mph winds, with gusts up to 65 mph -- strongest in the Santa Monica Mountains and western and northern parts of the San Fernando Valley.
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Less severe wind advisories were in effect until 3 p.m. Saturday for the Los Angeles coastal region, including downtown, and the San Gabriel Valley. Forecasters anticipated winds of 20 mph to 30 mph, with gusts of 50 mph, in the coastal area, most notably near Malibu.
A windblown dust advisory was in effect through noon Sunday in the entire South Coast basin, including Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Multiple downed trees were reported in Claremont, La Verne and Malibu.
The high winds caused several power outages, affecting thousands of customers. As of 9:30 p.m. Saturday, Southern California Edison reported 83 outages in Los Angeles County affecting 26,417 customers and four outages in Orange County affecting 370 customers. Some outages began late Friday and estimated times for restoration were not available.
Edison reported outages in cities including Monterey Park, Claremont, Glendora, San Dimas, Rosemead and South Pasadena.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power was also reporting several scattered outages affecting hundreds of people.
"If you've just woken up this morning and plan on heading out on the roads please be very very careful out there," the NWS' Los Angeles office tweeted Saturday morning. "Many trees have been uprooted and fallen on the roads and power lines have also been knocked down. Remember, always assume a downed power line is live!"
The winds were expected to begin dying down Saturday afternoon, but were also expected to remain stronger than usual through Sunday afternoon.
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