San Diego Power Outage: Thousands Left In Dark As Strong Winds Knock Down Trees

Thousands of San Diego residents were left in the dark after powerful Santa Anas winds toppled trees, caused road closures and raptured power lines Thursday.

Swaths of San Diego County were placed under a high-wind advisory until 10 p.m. Thursday as northeast winds at a speed of 15-25 mph, with gusts up to 75 mph, were expected to hit the area, according to National Weather Service.

Wind gusts measuring up to 100 mph toppled 80-to-100-foot trees and caused multiple big rigs on several highways to overturn, SF Gate reported.

The bad weather conditions led to power outages in at least 7,500 homes and businesses on the stretch of North County to the coastal city of San Diego. Power was restored at several places by 2.30 p.m. Thursday afternoon, a map provided on San Diego Gas & Electric's website showed.

The San Gabriel Mountains, north of Los Angeles, was hit by wind gusts up to 112 mph, while it reached 90 mph in Julian town in downtown San Diego and Banning Pass in Riverside County on Thursday morning.

The bad weather conditions led to the closure of Interstate 8 after multiple big rigs overturned on the highway, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

San Diego's iconic Balboa Park also faced a brief closure Thursday after dozens of trees were downed, with fallen tree limbs blocking the walkways. Police said a woman was injured after she was pinned under a eucalyptus tree. She was taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Firefighters helped a woman crawl out of her window after fallen trees blocked the front door of her home in a San Diego suburb Thursday.

"The winds are knocking down trees everywhere — on top of apartments, cars and people," Jose Ysea, a spokesperson for the city of San Diego, told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "It's hard to keep up with."

Forecasters said breezy conditions will stretch into Friday morning, with the temperature potentially turning warmer.