Strong winds bashed Oahu on Sunday, causing property damage and cutting power to thousands during the Super Bowl broadcast.

The trouble began at about 10 a.m. when the high winds whipped up a brush fire that firefighters had brought under control the previous day.

Honolulu Fire Capt. David Jenkins said 24 firefighters returned to the slopes of Koko Crater and spent the day working on extinguishing hot spots by hiking up the hillside with hoses and dropping water from a helicopter..

Jenkins said the flare-ups were related to the windy weather. Firefighters had brought the 60-acre blaze under control the previous afternoon and stayed overnight to monitor the area.

Between 1 and 8 p.m., fire crews responded to 15 wind-related emergencies, including eight blown roofs, four downed trees and three power-line hazards, Jenkins said. Most of the calls were in Kailua and Kaneohe, he said.

At 9:16 p.m., arcing wires were reported at Windward City Shopping Center.

At about noon Sunday, lifeguards rescued three people when their 24-foot sailboat ran aground near Keehi Lagoon in a wind-related incident, said Shayne Enright, Honolulu Emergency Services Department spokeswoman.

Lifeguards also made several wind-related rescues at Kailua Bay. Seven stand-up paddlers were brought to shore by personal watercraft, and two people and a catamaran were towed to shore after their boat overturned, Enright said.

The widest effect of the strong winds appeared to be power failures that left thousands in the dark during the Super Bowl.

Sharon Higa, Hawaiian Electric Co. spokeswoman, said the utility began receiving calls about pocket outages in Windward Oahu at about 12:30 p.m.

Initially, the outages were reported to be brief flickering losses of power that restored themselves, Higa said. But eventually the outages grew to affect thousands of customers, lasting for more than an hour in some cases, during the middle of the Super Bowl. Customers were affected from Hawaii Kai to Kahuku.

At 2:30 p.m., an hour into the game, HECO’s outage map reported more than 3,000 customers without power in Heeia and Kaneohe. An additional 1,700 customers were having an hourlong power failure in Hahaione, Hawaii Kai and Kuliouou.

At about 4:20 p.m., an hour before the game ended, HECO’s Twitter page reported thousands more without power: 1,300 in Maunawili, 4,845 in Kaneohe and 1,080 in Hawaii Kai.

Higa said additional crews were working Sunday and responded as quickly as they could.

HECO responded via Twitter to several irate customers commenting about the power interruptions during the game.

April Otte Duggan said on Twitter that the power went out for the sixth time at about 2:15 p.m.

“I have only seen 3 minutes of game. grrrr,” she wrote.

“Thank you for your patience,” HECO responded.

Most of the incidents Sunday happened during a National Weather Service wind advisory in effect until 6 p.m. today. Parts of Oahu and Kauai experienced winds up to 35 mph and 50 mph gusts.

At 7 p.m., Honolulu airport had 16 mph winds and Bellows Air Force Station had 28 mph winds.

Meanwhile a high-surf advisory was in effect at least until 6 p.m. today for the west shores of Oahu, Kauai and Niihau.