Electricity and internet service were out in parts of the San Bernardino Mountains on Thursday, after snow-laden trees toppled by high winds fell onto power and communications lines and in some cases, through residents’ roofs.
There were seven Southern California Edison outages in Running Springs and three in Lake Arrowhead on Thursday afternoon in various stages of repair.
“Parts of SCE’s infrastructure have sustained damage as a result of winds reaching 60 mph,” Edison spokesman Jeff Monford said. “These have caused multiple trees to fall into power lines. Our crew members are responding to all reported wires-down calls and power outage calls, and we have additional personnel en route to support their restoration efforts. Estimated restoration times will vary as conditions evolve.”
Those conditions were proving difficult to overcome, in some cases.
“Progress remains slow due to heavy snowfall and poor road conditions, and there is limited travel throughout the region, as you would expect,” Monford said.
Spectrum spokesman Dennis Johnson said its damaged communications lines have been repaired but that customers’ internet service can’t return until the electricity is back on.
Jonah Velasco, who works at Running Springs Fine Foods, said electricity was also out on Wednesday but has been largely restored.
“Today, it’s more like an internet issue,” he said.
Updates are available on the Edison outage map.
Sean and Kristine Thomas of Running Springs posted a photo of a tree branch lying across a bed in a GoFundMe fundraising post.
Worse, they could look up through the ceiling in spots and see the sky.
“Unfortunately, during the recent storm, we had a tree fall into our home,” they wrote. “Luckily, the youngest was not home, and the two oldest have moved out. We recently just took on two cats that we call our girls, and they were in the room that took on the most damage. So very thankful nobody was injured, including all the fur babies: 2 dogs, 4 cats, and freshwater fishes.”
The tree fell around 2 a.m. Wednesday, Sean Thomas said in an interview on Thursday.
“Between the weight of the snow and the rain that had been frozen onto the branches, the wind came in, broke the tree down, it fell on our house, ripped through our attic and broke in through our son’s ceiling,” said Sean Thomas, 40. “There is a major branch that went right down the middle of our stairwell.
“We just got woken up to a big, loud crash,” Sean Thomas said. Kristine Thomas , 39, said it sounded “almost like a major earthquake.”
The support from the community has been “just amazing,” Sean Thomas said.
“We’re grateful to be alive and breathing,” he added.
In another request for assistance, the family of a 55-year-old Muscoy resident who died Tuesday after he fell off the roof of a pickup swamped by water in the Cajon Wash was mourning his death.
Edward J. Jozwiak was a passenger in the pickup that was driven into high, fast-moving water on Keenbrook Road in Devore. The current pushed the pickup into the wash. Two other occupants escaped before firefighters arrived. (The San Bernardino County Fire Department, in a social media post, had described Jozwiak as the “sole occupant” of the vehicle.)
“Last night my dad got stuck in a creek that is usually very mellow trying to go home, but because of the weather, that creek turned into a very strong moving river,” Vanesa Jozwiak wrote on Facebook. She also created a GoFundMe page. “When search and rescue tried to help, he slipped and fell in. Tragically, he was found (Wednesday) morning and will no longer be on this planet with us, but up in heaven with my grandpa (his dad).”
The Sheriff’s Department is conducting a death investigation, spokeswoman Jenny Smith said Thursday.