Fires tear through Pacific Palisades, Altadena, Pasadena and Sylmar; gusts of up to 99 mph reported
For those of you back east, it's important to keep in mind the scale of this place. As far as I know, the fires are in the county but not the city, and the county of LA covers around three million acres, much of it forested. Three thousand acres on fire is a big deal, but we're talking about about a percent here and most of it lightly populated. It could get worse (things have been very dry around here and this windstorm has been fierce), but for the vast majority of us, the fires are something we see on TV, smell in the air, and perhaps spot as a faint glow in the distance.
The Santa Anas, on the other hand, have been unavoidable. The National weather service used the phrase “life-threatening and destructive” to describe the predicted storm and it has lived up to the hype. I'm sitting in an apartment lit only by the screen of my laptop. The blackout covers a major part of the county and has been going on for hours with no assurance of power by daybreak.
A stretch of the 101 is being shut down along with countless smaller roads. Within a block of my place two massive trees came down, one demolishing a car parked on the other side of the street and sheering off the concrete base of a street light. No one was hurt but the road and both sidewalks are blocked and it will be sometime tomorrow when the crews get to it.
So far, I haven't heard of any casualties. There will be a few but hopefully the number will remain small.
The wind finally seems to be settling and I should probably get to bed.
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