Southern California warned of ‘life-threatening, destructive’ windstorm
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Officials warn of fire risks and potential outages as gusts could reach 80mph in Los Angeles county and Ventura. Southern California could experience a “life-threatening, destructive” windstorm this week, with forecasters warning of major fire risks unusual for January and potential power outages.
![[Helicopter drops water on fire]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6a1048f70a4a22ad9e78e739b11eb83563d897d3/0_213_8192_4915/master/8192.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The gusts are expected to intensify on Tuesday into Wednesday, potentially reaching 80mph (129 km/h) across much of Los Angeles county and Ventura to the north, according to a National Weather Service alert on Monday. In the foothills and mountains, there could be isolated winds over 100mph (160km/h).
“Scattered downed trees and power outages are likely, in addition to rapid fire growth and extreme behavior with any fire starts,” the weather service office for Los Angeles said on X. “Areas not typically windy will be impacted.”. The weather service warned of knocked over big rigs and motorhomes, dangerous sea conditions off the coasts of LA and Orange county, and potentially significant delays at local airports. Public safety power shutoffs are being considered for nearly 300,000 customers across the region, according to Southern California Edison. Outages could last for hours or days.
By January, southern California has often experienced enough rain that fire season is considered over, but the start of what is typically the rainy season has been very dry this year, making the region vulnerable. Recent destructive fires have left areas parched and more at risk. Winds hitting tinder-dry vegetation could create “extreme fire conditions”, including in the footprint of last month’s wind-driven Franklin fire, which damaged or destroyed 48 structures, mostly homes, in and around Malibu. While there were mass evacuations in the area, widely shared videos show students at a local university sheltering on campus as the fire raged nearby – a strategy officials said was safer than navigating winding, canyon roads.
