Some sections of Santa Monica were without power Monday as power companies across the state struggled to preserve service during high winds.
Power outages were reported across the county Monday and the City facilities at Memorial Park including the fitness room, courts, fields, and Cove Skatepark were closed until further notice. The Police Activities League said it would remain open until 6:30 p.m.
No cause for the Santa Monica outage was available Monday afternoon and there was no official estimate on the number of customers impacted. However, power outages were occurring in other areas due to wind damage or utility companies pre-emptively cutting power to avoid fire hazards.
Southern California Edison said it was considering shutting off power to an undetermined number of customers. Strong wind gusts swept across the region with the arrival of the first fall Santa Ana winds — hot, sustained gusts that blow from the desert to the ocean.
A motorist in the Orange County city of Tustin was killed when a eucalyptus tree fell on her car in an apartment complex. The victim was 34. No further details were released.
Southern California Edison spokesman David Song said about 32,000 of its 5 million customers were experiencing power outages, but no shutdowns had been ordered by the utility. Song said Edison was investigating the cause of those outages.
Concerned about downed power lines sparking wildfires, two major California utilities took the rare step of cutting power to customers amid high winds.
Pacific Gas & Electric for the first time began cutting power Sunday night to tens of thousands of customers in Northern California after the National Weather Service warned of extreme fire danger across the state due to high winds, low humidity and dry vegetation.
San Diego Gas & Electric followed suit Monday, turning off power to about 360 customers in foothill areas near Cleveland National Forest, where multiple blazes have scorched large swaths of land in recent years.
Matthew Hall contributed to this report.
