LADWP customers left frustrated, cold and in the dark as crews work to restore power to thousands
For almost three days, residents have been waiting in the cold and dark as crews try to restore power after a severe storm ravaged Los Angeles County.
"It's really cold," said resident Larry Mendez. "It's freezing. Our animals are barely making it. They are just shivering."
Mendez is one of the many in his Lake Balboa neighborhood who have been waiting for their lights to turn back on after heavy rain and wind battered the San Fernando Valley. During Friday night's storm, he said a transformer blew.
"The wind was going crazy and all of a sudden the light — everything — went out," said Mendez. "I went to my neighbors and they were out too."
According to Mendez, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said restoring power would take 4-12 hours on Friday night and Saturday morning. It is now Monday. He and his neighbors still have no power.
"We're a big city," he said. "My God, we are not a small town in some little area. We should be prepared for this kind of stuff."
At the height of the storm, more than 140,000 homes had lost electricity. At last word, there are presently 27,000 LADWP customers impacted by the power outage, according to the LADWP. Thus far, more than 127,000 residents have had power restored.
According to Senior Assitant Manager Brian Wilbur, crews have been working around the clock to restore power but their efforts have been hampered by a combination of high winds and the widespread nature of the outages.
"That adds that extra piece to it, when trees are coming down because of the rain on top of the wind, that becomes a very different hazard than what we normally deal with," he said.
Wilbur said the utility company is prioritizing calls and getting to everyone as quickly as they can.
"We have crews coming in at midnight. We have crews early in the morning," he said. "We have more than quadrupled the number of people that we have working out on these jobs."
One neighborhood in Studio City finally saw some signs of hope on Monday after DWP crews arrived to restore their power.
"This has been going on for the better part of 80 hours, it feels like. Not taking a shower, the apartment is cold as can be," said resident Jon Thornton.
Mendez echoed these sentiments. He added that it has gotten to the point where he and his neighbors almost feel forgotten.
"Do you have us on the map? When can we possibly have somebody out here?" said Mendez. "We don't know. So, here we are just trying to make it through the day.
If you are still without power, keep reporting it to DWP. The utility company said that it has handled many of the higher-hazard jobs and can go back to what it considered to be some of the smaller jobs.
