Power was restored Friday for thousands of South Los Angeles customers, some of whom were without air conditioning for hours during a stretch of high humidity and above-normal temperatures.
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said the outages were caused by overloaded electrical equipment due to extreme heat. Some residents said they have been without power since Wednesday as temperatures climbed into the 90s and triple-digits for some parts of Los Angeles.
The power restoration process was more complex because the outage involved underground equipment, the LADWP said.
The agency said Friday morning that it was working to restore power to about 2,500 customers, some of whom were without power for 35 hours.
Deborah Woods told NBCLA she opted to spend the night in her car. The seats were not comfortable, but she was able to use the air conditioner in the car for relief from days of sizzling temperatures.
“I went into the house about 12 or 1 o’ clock this morning, and I could not sleep,” Woods said. “I had the fan… I had a portable fan, right in my face. I had wet towels, so you know, it’s no ice. Nothing. I’ve been out here ever since.”
As of early Friday afternoon, about 60 customers were without power.
A slight cooldown is expected this weekend. Cooler and less humid air will move into the region as an upper-level ridge that trapped tropical moisture and brought high temperatures to Southern California begins to weaken.
The cooling trend is expected to continue through the weekend with temperatures falling below normal for mid-September by Saturday and Sunday. Most areas will see temperatures in the 70s along the coast and 80s
inland.
A ridge could begin building back toward the region Thursday, bringing the possibility of another warming trend, but forecasters said any warming is not expected to approach the heat experienced this week.