Sizzling heat zaps power across Southern California, affecting thousands of customers

The excessive heat has caused power outages throughout Southern California, leaving thousands of people sweating through a dark night.

Affected neighborhoods have included customers at and near the University of Southern California and surrounding areas, including Mount St. Mary’s University, West Adams and Exposition Park, CBS 2 reported.

According to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s website, electrical outages extended as far north as Sylmar, where 160 customers reported power losses, and throughout the Inland Empire.

As of Saturday morning, 7,500 people in Exposition Park, Westlake, West Adams, Normandy and Woodland Hills are still without power.

“Crews response time because of high volume is between 12 and 24 hours from the start time of the outages,” Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Karen Holman said. “Restoration may take longer. We are hoping not, but due to weather circumstances, that’s the timeframe.”

Southern California Edison reported more than 100 outages in communities including Santa Monica, Santa Clarita, Rancho Cucamonga, the Greater Los Angeles area, Santa Ana, Huntington Beach, Redondo Beach and communities in the Antelope Valley.

According to the electrical utility, 10 outages were reported in Orange County, affecting 836 customers, and 77 were reported in Los Angeles, with 4,811 households suffering power losses.

By Saturday morning, the number of outages in SCE’s area around the region shrunk from 124 to 80, SCE spokesman Jeff Monford said.

“That’s pretty good progress considering that the crews had to work in the dark,” Monford said. “It shows that the crews really are committed to restoring power as quickly as possible.”

Outages also were reported in parts of Murrieta and Moreno Valley on Friday night.

San Diego Gas & Electric, which serves parts of south Orange County, and the Moreno Valley Electrical Utility could not be reached for comment on Saturday.

Rolling outages ended Friday night in Pasadena, the city’s Water and Power department announced.

Excessive heat warnings will be in effect through Monday in much of the region with “dangerously hot conditions” and triple-digit temperatures expected this weekend and into next week, National Weather Service forecasters said.

Soaring temperatures to remain on tap for Southern California this weekend

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.