Tens of thousands spent holiday in darkness as destructive winds strike S. California

LOS ANGELES, Calif. (KABC/CNN) – Tens of thousands of people spent their Thanksgiving holiday without power as the destructive Santa Ana winds struck parts of California,

With wind gusts clocking in up to 89 miles-per-hour the destructive Santa Ana winds struck parts of California with hurricane force, toppling trees onto homes—leaving some unlivable—and tearing a massive production studio dome under construction in Burbank to shreds.

KABC spoke to one man who said, “I supposed I’d rather have excess wind and less power than be burned out of my house and home, a minor inconvenience… a minor inconvenience is nothing compared to losing my house.”

More than 70,000 homes and businesses sat in darkness on Thanksgiving after utility companies cut off power across seven counties to lower the risk of wildfires.

One person said, “I’ve had phone calls from some neighbors and they’re indicating that you know, what are we going to do, we can’t cook our birds, you know, we have no power, etcetera. So they’re a little frustrated to say the least.”

Many people impacted by the public safety power outage spent their holiday in a hotel or with family members.

Mandy Mascol and her family were without power and staying in hotel for holiday. She said, “We just came back to the hotel instead of home tonight. That’s okay.”

Terri Hartman spent Thanksgiving without power. She said, “I’d rather go without power than lose our home or our lives.”

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