Some 11,240 electricity customers of Southern California Edison had power out as of 4:30 p.m., the utility reported as storming rain and winds whipped the region Sunday. But by 7:30 p.m., more than half of those customers had power restored.
Cities with outages, SCE said:
Monterey Park, Arcadia, Carson, Commerce, Compton, Cypress, Huntington Park, Long Beach, Paramount, Redondo Beach and Signal Hill.
The storm caused power lines to fail across the Southland, with later reports of more than 6,600 customer accounts blacked out tonight, City News Service reported.
Traffic lights are dark in much of Culver City, and a huge multiplex movie theater in Sherman Oaks had to hand out rain checks when the power failed at about 2:45 p.m.
``We were watching `Trout Fishing In The Yemen,'' said one customer, who gave his name as Phil. ``The generators came on and they escorted us out.
Southern California Edison had 11,238 customers without power at peak, but that number was brought down to 6,612 by 6:30 p.m., Mashi Nyssen of SCE said. ``There is a lot of wind and rain,'' Nyssen said.
By early evening: ``The cities most affected are Hacienda Heights, Pasadena, Carson, Long Beach, Montebello, Signal Hill, Paramount, Buena Park, Fountain Valley and Canyon Country,'' Nyssen said. She said she did not know if any power lines had come down, but warned residents who may see them to call 9-1-1 and never touch or come near downed lines.
She also advised using flashlights rather than candles if the power goes out at home. ``We just want customers to be safe and careful,'' Nyssen said. No outage estimates were immediately available from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
--City News Service contributed to this report
