Southern California Endures Wildfires, Lightning, Beach Closures

Definitely some strange weather, and terrifying circumstances.

At the Long Beach Press-Telegram:

A fast-moving storm rumbled through Southern California on Saturday producing thunder, lightning that closed beaches from Malibu to Long Beach, power outages and flash-flood warnings, but it helped firefighters get a handle on two major fires in the Inland Empire.

And today’s forecast calls for much of the same.

While there were no reports of injuries or property damage, the storm did strike an American Airlines plane heading from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., forcing it to turn around and make an emergency landing at LAX. The storm also saw Los Angeles firefighters rescue a 20-year old man from the Los Angeles River and canceled several outdoor events throughout the region.

The Boeing 737 had 159 passengers, seven crew members and seven hours of fuel on board as it landed, according to the airline and Los Angeles firefighters’ radio traffic. It landed about 1:35 p.m. and taxied to the Alaska Airlines terminal.

The storm also knocked out power to thousands.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported 10,000 customers affected by outages, likely related to the storm. In addition, Long Beach continued working — as it has since Wednesday — through its worst power outage in 50 years, and more than 1,000 customers lost power in the High Desert, according to Southern California Edison, which worked to restore power to most by around noon Saturday.

The lightning is expected to continue, but less frequently than Saturday, through midday Monday, said Brett Albright, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s San Diego office.

A flash-flood watch was in effect through 8 p.m. today, especially in mountain areas, he said...

More.