Los Angeles utility worker seriously injured while trying to restore power during storms

A Los Angeles Department of Water and Power worker was seriously injured while trying to restore power Saturday in the San Fernando Valley as a historic winter storm slammed Southern California.

The employee was hospitalized and in intensive care Sunday, according to a DWP news release.

“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,” General Manager Martin Adams said in the release.

About 27,600 customers remained without power Monday morning after the powerful storm pummeled Southern California with high winds, rain and snow over the weekend, according to a spokesperson for the L.A. utility. The DWP had restored power to around 140,000 customers since the start of the storm.

Crews are still working to restore power after the storm knocked down trees, power poles and power lines. Other outages resulted from water intrusion and flooding. The average response time to an outage increased from 12-24 hours to 24-48 hours Saturday morning, the DWP said.

Many customers were outraged over the weekend that their power had been out for more than two days, some fearing that their groceries or medications would go bad without refrigeration.

“High winds and heavy rain like we experienced can cause significant damage, but our crews continue to make steady and strong progress and will work around the clock until everyone is back on,” Brian Wilbur, senior assistant general manager of the DWP, said in the news release.

Some of the communities hit hardest by outages include Glassell Park, Green Meadows, Hancock Park, Hollywood, Studio City, Chatsworth, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, Sun Valley, Tarzana, Van Nuys and Woodland Hills.