DWP Worker Seriously Injured While Restoring Power in San Fernando Valley

A lineman works to repair a power line in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 26, 2018. Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo

LOS ANGELES—A Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) worker is in intensive care after suffering an injury while working to restore power Feb. 25 in the San Fernando Valley amid weather-related outages affecting thousands of people, the utility said Sunday.

“This accident and serious injury of our employee is a reminder that our line crews and other field personnel are truly unsung heroes who work in hazardous conditions risking their lives to keep the power flowing across our city,” LADWP General Manager Martin Adams said.

“The safety of our employees and customers is our highest priority, and we are praying that he makes a full recovery,” he continued.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power headquarters in Los Angeles, California on July 22, 2019. Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The department said 49,000 of its 1.5 million electric customers were still without power late Sunday morning. Since the start of the storm Friday, crews had restored power to more than 98,000 customers.

The remaining outages were spread across the department’s service area with some of the hardest hit communities being Glassell Park, Green Meadows, Hancock Park, Hollywood, Studio City, Chatsworth, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, Sun Valley, Tarzana, Van Nuys, and Woodland Hills.

The time frame for crews to respond to an outage increased to 24–48 hours early Saturday, up from the previous 12–24 hours, when it became clear that continued wind and rain would result in additional outages even as crews continued to restore power.

Many of the incidents crews were working to repair involved high winds and heavy rains toppling trees and taking down power poles and power lines, officials said. These require tree clearing and removal, which takes time and slows outage restoration work.

Department of Water and Power employees work in the pouring rain to clear a fallen tree from a road in the Hollywood hills in Los Angeles, Calif., in this file photo. Richard Vogel/AP

Crews are prioritizing restoration work involving broken or downed power poles and power lines as those incidents pose a public hazard.

Some of the outages are a result of flooding and water intrusion into underground electrical systems. When the affected equipment is underground, crews must go from vault to vault to identify the source of the damage before repairs can take place, which can also be time-consuming.

“We want our customers who are without power to know that we are working as hard and safely as we can to get your power restored and we appreciate your patience,” said Brian Wilbur, the utility’s senior assistant general manager.

Anyone experiencing an outage was encouraged to report it to the utility’s website, or by calling 1-800-342-5397.

In an aerial view, cars are seen covered in snow at Pacific Union College in Angwin, Calif., on February 24, 2023. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

The utility also offered the following tips:

• Use a flashlight instead of candles, as a light source.
• Switch off all lights, except for one, so you will know when your power has been restored.
• Once your power is restored, it may require you to reset your circuit breaker for the lights to come back on.
• Keep your refrigerator closed to keep food cold.
• Check on vulnerable friends and neighbors to make sure they are safe.

Meanwhile, Southern California Edison’s outage map showed 33 outages affecting more than 4,800 customers in Los Angeles County as of 11 a.m. Sunday, and five outages in Orange County affecting more than 1,300 customers.