Thousands without power for Thanksgiving as SCE shuts off electricity due to high winds

Matt Solinsky, Palm Springs Desert Sun
·2 min read
A Southern California Edison substation in Palm Springs.

Southern California Edison has turned off electricity to more than 64,000 customers across five Southern California counties on Thanksgiving, leaving dinner plans for many in disarray.

The outages by SCE are termed “Public Safety Power Shutoffs” and affect numerous areas west of the Coachella Valley, including Pinyon, Cabazon and the San Gorgonio Pass.

As of noon Thursday, these are the current outage numbers by county:

· Riverside County: 20,322

· San Bernardino County: 8,852

· Los Angeles County: 15,556

· Ventura County: 14,987

· Orange County: 4,127

SCE does not have an estimate on when power will return to the affected areas.

SCE says the company may temporarily shut off power to a neighborhood when there is a high risk for a wildfire. The company says they shut off power to prevent their electric system from becoming the source of ignition for a wildfire, which has occurred for other electric companies in previous wildfires in California.

In addition, SCE warns that power could be shut off for an additional 156,484 customers, including more than 40,000 in Riverside County. Among areas that could be impacted are North Palm Springs as well as areas just south of the Morongo Valley and just west of Desert Hot Springs.

The additional SCE estimates include:

· Riverside County: 40,136 customers

· Los Angeles County: 37,488 customers

· Ventura County: 35,324 customers

· San Bernardino County: 26,541 customers

· Orange County: 14,072 customers

· Kern County: 2,923 customers

The National Weather Service in San Diego has issued a high wind warning until 3 p.m., Thursday for parts of Riverside County, including the San Gorgonio Pass near Banning as well as the Riverside and San Bernardino county mountains. Areas around Whitewater and Desert Hot Springs are included in the warning, but the rest of the Coachella Valley is not.

The weather service advises that northeast winds could gust to between 50 and 60 miles per hour and cause downed trees and power lines.

So far on Thursday, the top winds gusts across the area included 58 mph at Cabazon, 47 mph at Desert Hot Springs and 35 mph at Palm Springs International Airport.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: SCE turns power off for thousands across Southern California