Washington, Dec 4 (IANS): Tens of thousands of US houses were witnessing blackout Saturday morning even as most of them affected by the strong winds that blew out southern California Wednesday night had regained power supply.

According to the Department of Water and Power, 24,000 of its 1.4 million customers were still without power as of 6 a.m. Saturday, Xinhua reported.

The department said that their crews were working round the clock to restore power and over 189,000 customers regained power supply.

The violent offshore windstorm, dubbed "Santa Ana," occasionally gusted to near 100 miles (160 km) per hour Wednesday night and early Thursday morning as one of the fiercest winds in recent memory.

It knocked down trees, utility poles and power lines, sparked fires, left over 200,000 families in the dark and caused a number of flights to divert to other airports.

The Los Angeles County announced a state of emergency Thursday.