Rain around the Los Angeles area due to monsoonal moisture caused power lines to arc, setting utility poles on fire resulting in power outages around the area, officials said today.
Most of the utility pole fires were in eastern Los Angeles County, said Los Angeles County Fire Department Dispatch Supervisor Kyle Sanford.
Southern California Edison noted 34 customers in Walnut lost their power at 7 p.m. and four West Covina customers lost power in the afternoon. Some 38 Huntington Park customers lost power at about 4 p.m. and 292 Claremont customers lost power at 3:30 p.m., according to Edison’s web site. Power was expected to be restored this morning.
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reports more than 750 customers were without power, including 705 in Sun Valley, 49 in South Park and 18 in Watts. The rest were one or two customers in Woodland Hills, West Hills, Sherman Oaks, Hollywood, Gramercy Park, Chatsworth, Boyle Heights and Baldwin Hills/Crenshaw, according to the LADWP web site.
It also expected crews to restore customers’ power this morning, according to its website.
The National Weather Service said monsoonal moisture will continue to bring a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms to all of Los Angeles County and the Ventura County Mountains through today due to an upper level low over northern Baja, pushing from the east.
The most likely chance for measurable rainfall was expected to be in the Los Angeles County mountains, but there was a slight chance of thunderstorms across Los Angeles County overnight. The thunderstorms could bring brief heavy rain and dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning.
Forecasters said a northeast flow in the late morning and early afternoon could cause thunderstorms to drift from the mountains to the coast and valleys.
The monsoonal moisture was expected to move out of the region later tonight with dry weather and mostly clear skies expected Monday through Tuesday.
