LOS ANGELES, Nov. 25 (Xinhua) -- Tens of thousands of Southern California electrical customers had their power cut on Thursday and more than 156,000 others faced the same prospect during the Thanksgiving holiday.
Southern California Edison (SCE), the primary electricity supply company for 15 million residents in Southern California, said Thursday morning that it turned off power to more than 63,000 customers as of 11:00 a.m. local time, as a precautionary measure to potential wildfires.
"As Public Safety Power Shutoffs occur, we will attempt to restore power to customers as soon as it is safe to do so after the weather event ends, and after crews inspect the lines and determine it is safe to re-energize," the company tweeted.
Red flag warnings were posted late morning and were expected to remain in effect through much of Friday as the dangerous Santa Ana winds to cover the Southern California region this weekend would bring strong gusts and very low relative humidity, the National Weather Service said.
The Santa Ana winds, also called "devil winds," are strong, extremely dry downslope winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California, creating critical fire weather conditions.
On Thursday, San Diego Gas & Electric also said it was considering shutting off electricity to more than 53,000 customers.
The power cutting move from electricity companies triggered anger among local customers.
"Turn the power back in Yorba Linda on it's THaNKSGIVInG!!! This is unacceptable -- it is perfectly safe -- you need to sort out your protection measures instead is such questionable actions - please remedy immediately !!!" a Twitter user replied SCE Thursday morning. Enditem
