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Southern California Edison is warning it could cut power to 308,000 customers in seven counties to prevent winds from damaging electrical equipment and starting wildfires.
(Credit: Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
(Credit: Paul Duginski / Los Angeles Times)
The utility nearly doubled its estimate of the number of homes and businesses that might lose electricity as a pre-emptive measure. Cal State San Bernardino has already said it was canceling Thursday’s classes due to the power shutoff threat. The university has yet to make a determination for Friday’s classes. The following areas could have their service turned off: Los Angeles County (over 66,000 customers): Orange County (over 26,000 customers): Riverside County (over 40,000 customers): San Bernardino County (over 63,000 customers) Ventura County (Over 94,000 customers) The outages could also affect 16,000 customers in Kern County and 240 customers in Santa Barbara County. (Full information and maps can be found here)  Earlier, Edison said a possible outage Thursday affect about 160,000 people. Red flag warnings for severe fire danger are expected later Wednesday and will likely last through Friday evening for much of greater Los Angeles. Forecasters predict peak wind gusts of 55 mph. To the north, Pacific Gas & Electric says it’s going forward Wednesday with blackouts that could affect 450,000 people in 17 counties of Northern California. The shutoffs are expected in the Sierra Foothills, followed by blackouts north of the San Francisco Bay Area.