Records fall as high heat envelopes Southern California

Los Angeles - A Southern California heat wave that's shattered records has left thousands of people without electricity.

The Department of Water and Power says an outage sparked by high demand left about 1 000 west Los Angeles residents without power about 23:00 on Friday. There's no word on when service will resume.

City News Service says another 3 000 Southern California Edison customers also briefly lost service.

Friday saw triple-digit heat in many areas.

Camarillo hit 42 degrees Celsius, its hottest day ever. The previous high of 39.5 C was set in September of 1978.

Records for the date were set in Long Beach, which hit 40.5 C; Burbank with 40 C; Santa Ana with 41 C and Escondido with 39 C.

Riverside and El Cajon also set records.

Forecasters say the heat should begin easing this weekend.