Thousands of residents on the Eastside woke up without power Wednesday morning after a powerful windstorm tore through Southern California, causing deadly fires that ravaged homes and prompted tens of thousands of residents to evacuate.
Boyle Heights alone saw 1,125 customers without power with an estimated restoration time of 2 a.m. Thursday, according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Several neighborhoods, including Boyle Heights and East Los Angeles, saw fallen trees, branches and other debris lining the streets. Clouds of smoke covered the skies and hazardous air quality prompted many school districts to close.
The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) announced Wednesday morning that various closures across its jurisdiction, including those in the central and eastern part of L.A. Unified that were experiencing hazardous air quality conditions. At 5 p.m. Wednesday, the district shared that all LAUSD schools and offices would be closed Thursday, Jan. 9.
Elsewhere, the Palisades Fire burned 1,000 structures in Pacific Palisades, and in Altadena and Pasadena the Eaton Fire killed five people, according to L.A. County Fire officials and the L.A. County Sheriff Department. Fires were also burning in Sylmar, in the Angeles National Forest, and in the Hollywood Hills. More than 100,000 people across L.A. County were under evacuation orders.
While the strong winds that fueled the recent fires have dramatically diminished, the National Weather Service said critical fire weather will persist for portions of L.A. and Ventura counties until at least Friday evening.
READ MORE: What we know about the fires burning right now in Southern California
In Boyle Heights, city workers were out Wednesday morning assessing the destruction left by a historic windstorm. On St. Louis Street, workers cleaned up a part of a fallen tree that came down during the wind storm Tuesday night. One worker said they had 150 service calls to get to this morning, as compared to zero on a day with no wind.
L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson spoke during the press conference Wednesday morning and urged Angelenos to stay off the road.
“Not only if you’re on the westside or in the valley, anywhere in this city, if you can stay off the roads please do so. I live in south L.A., a long way away from the fires, visibility is less than one block because of the smoke,” Harris-Dawson said.
“If there is not a good reason for you to be on the roads, we ask that you leave the roads open as possibly as you can to the public safety professionals that have to do their work,” he added.
Harris-Dawson listed a number of landmark closures: Griffith Park, Runyon Canyon, Hollywood Reservoir, the Hollywood sign, and all roads through the Sepulveda basin in the San Fernando valley.
Boyle Heights Beat photography mentor Susanica Tam contributed to this story.
