Los Angeles Fires Rage as High Winds Set to Return This Week

(Bloomberg) -- At least two rounds of vicious, dry Santa Ana winds are expected to blast through Southern California early this week, bringing powerful gusts that will challenge fire crews struggling to contain two destructive blazes and likely force thousands more residents to evacuate.

After a brief respite from the winds over the weekend, a shifting pressure gradient is set to send bone-dry gusts of up to 70 miles (113 kilometers) per hour through foothill communities in Los Angeles and Ventura counties from early Tuesday through to Wednesday morning. 

The National Weather Service has issued a “particularly dangerous situation” warning — its most severe alert — for Malibu, the San Fernando Valley, and large portions of Ventura County, due to damaging winds and low humidity. Nearly 9.3 million people face critical fire-weather conditions, the US Storm Prediction Center said in an advisory.

While the upcoming Santa Ana winds are not expected to be as strong as the windstorm that ripped through Los Angeles last week, areas under warning “will have a high risk for large fires with very rapid fire spread,” according to an advisory issued by the National Weather Service late Sunday. 

High winds will limit opportunities for firefighters to make progress against the fast-moving Palisades and Eaton fires, which have left at least 24 people dead and consumed more than 12,000 buildings in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

Red flag warnings are in effect through Wednesday evening across a large swath of Southern California, extending from the Santa Clarita Valley into Riverside County. San Diego is also on alert for wildfires fueled by high winds. The gusts are linked to a stagnant pattern of high pressure and low pressure across the West, which has created a natural funnel over Southern California.

The fires are the most devastating natural disaster to hit Los Angeles since the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which killed 57 people, and are expected to rank among the costliest in modern US history. The Palisades and Eaton fires have burned almost 38,000 acres, and are slightly contained.

AccuWeather Inc. has raised its estimate for damages and economic losses to between $250 billion to $275 billion, up from $135 billion to $150 billion. The commercial forecaster takes into account direct and secondary losses, such as lost wages and supply-chain disruptions.

“We could face another round of hurricane-force wind gusts in some places this week,” AccuWeather Meteorologist Alex DaSilva said in a statement. “Powerful wind gusts could ground some firefighting aircrafts at times, which makes it more difficult for crews to contain wind-driven fires.”

Most schools will reopen on Monday, with the exception of seven that remain in mandatory evacuation zones, said Alberto M. Carvalho, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District. Of those seven, two will have to be completely rebuilt: Palisades Charter Elementary and Marquez Charter Elementary.

Southern California Edison is prepared to shut off electricity if needed during the next bout of heavy winds, said Cody Tubbs, public affairs director of the power utility. The company has been asked to preserve evidence in connection with the deadly Eaton fire by insurance companies. 

As of early Monday morning, more than 30,000 customers were without power in areas affected by the fires, according to website PowerOutage.us.

“It is a disastrous pattern and there is not much chance of it changing,” said Bob Oravec, a senior branch forecaster at the US Weather Prediction Center. “If anything it just looks like it reloads across the West and it looks like it gets worse by the end of the month.”

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(Updates critical-weather population estimate in third paragraph, power outages in penultimate.)

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