SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — San Diego Gas & Electric has already taken steps to limit fire damage in high-risk areas impacted by the Santa Ana winds. The National Weather Service says San Diego County is under a red flag warning through Thursday.
As of noon Wednesday, the utility company shut off power to nearly 9,000 customers, and that number is expected to grow. SDGE's website indicates as many as 56,484 customers could be without power due to the public safety power shutoff.
Below, you'll find the outage map. Areas in red have the power turned off already, while the orange areas could experience it later:
Several East County school districts canceled classes Wednesday in anticipation of the high winds and power outages, including:
- Julian Union Elementary School District
- Julian Union High School District
- Mountain Empire Unified School District
- Ramona Unified School District
- Spencer Valley School District
- Warner Unified School District
SDGE tells ABC 10News it's been monitoring this event for a week now because of the potential fire danger
NWS says this is one of the strongest wind storms it has seen in decades, and that includes the conditions in Los Angeles.
According to NWS, this is the driest start to the rainy season in San Diego Conty in more than 170 years. During the last Santa Ana wind event, the shutoff peaked to just over 50,000 customers. However, SDGE is more concerned this time around because of the combination of the high winds and dry conditions.
Driest start to a winter for San Diego with the driest October 1st through January 8th and July 1st through January 8th periods on record with records dating back to 1850. pic.twitter.com/yAN4XFQacg
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) January 8, 2025
You can find the latest power outage numbers on the SDGE website.
