Lights On for About 5,000 in Hollywood

After spending hours in the dark, some lights are turning on for residents in Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood Friday morning.

At 6 a.m. Friday, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported that 11,500 customers were still without power. Doing the math, that means about 5,000 customers had their power restored since our last check at 9 p.m. Thursday.

In total, the LADWP is dealing with a blackout that effects 94,000 customers in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power spokeswoman Maychelle Yee said Friday morning.

Broken down by community: 4,200 customers are without power in Hollywood, 1,4000 in the Hollywood Hills and 5,900 in East Hollywood.

Just how disruptive the windstorm has turned out to be was illustrated by the Los Angeles Fire Department's report that it has responded to 2,197 incidents during the 24-hour period ending at 11:59 p.m. Thursday, compared to 1,022 incidents during a normal day.

A cold low-pressure system over Arizona Friday will continue to churn up strong north-to-northeast offshore winds, which will again buffet Los Angeles and Ventura counties, peaking this morning during the post-dawn hours, the National Weather Service said.

The "peak" period should involve winds blowing at sustained speeds of between 20 and 40 miles per hour, gusting to 60 mph, 70 mph in some areas, forecasters said.

"Although these winds should weaken by Friday evening, the potential exists for another round of of gusty northeast winds Saturday afternoon into Sunday over Los Angeles and Ventura counties with very low humidities," according to an NWS advisory.

Because of the high winds and low humidity levels, a red flag warning denoting a high risk of wildfire will remain in effect for most of the day, expiring at 3 p.m. in most areas but remaining in force until 6 p.m. in the San Gabriel Mountains, the Angeles National Forest and the Santa Clarita Valley.

Then, a less serious fire weather watch will be in effect from Saturday afternoon through Sunday afternoon, the weather service said.

NWS forecasters said they expect humidity levels of about 15 percent Friday, dropping to about 10 percent Saturday and Sunday.

Wednesday night's and Thursday's winds—the worst seen in the region in decades, according to Southland firefighters and repair crews— and caused high-power lines to topple, wreaking havoc with power supplies throughout the Southland.

DWP crews worked through the night to end the outages, which were affecting both residential and commercial customers. The DWP advised customers to be prepared to be .

A similarly intense cleanup effort is expected on streets made impassable by downed tree limbs or uprooted trunks.

, one of North America's largest urban parks, at more than 4,300 acres. L.A. Recreation and Parks General Manager Jon Kirk Mukri ordered the closure Thursday because of downed trees and the danger of additional damage from continuing gusts.

The park will be closed until debris is cleared and officials determine it is safe for people to re-enter, said department spokeswoman Andrea Epstein.

In Los Angeles, red flag parking restrictions will continue through 8 a.m. Saturday. The restrictions are intended to prevent parked cars on narrow streets from blocking emergency vehicles. To find out if you live in an area where parking is restricted, go to lafd.org/redflag/.