Temperatures Dip Into 20s Around San Diego County

Near-record low temperatures gripped Southern California for the third straight night Saturday, apparently causing two hypothermia deaths among the homeless, threatening crops and sending shoppers after cold-weather gear to beat the freeze.

The mercury dipped below freezing in many San Diego County communities, including 24 in Fallbrook, 26 in El Cajon, 28 in Del Mar and 31 in Chula Vista.

The temperature dropped to 36 degrees Saturday morning at San Diego’s Lindbergh Field, just two degrees shy of the record low for the date, set in 1888. The high Saturday at Lindbergh reached only 57, 4 degrees shy of the record low maximum temperature, set in 1933.

However, the coldest of the cold has past, and temperatures will begin an extremely gradual ascension to normal levels today, said Harvey Halstrup, a National Weather Service forecaster.

In Los Angeles, two deaths among the city’s homeless were reported one day after the City Council declined to act on a proposal to open city buildings to the homeless and Mayor Tom Bradley appealed to the public to donate blankets to help keep them warm. The deaths prompted bitter accusations Saturday that the city isn’t doing enough to feed and shelter the homeless during the cold spell.

On Saturday, police said a woman in her mid-30s, who was found lying on a Los Angeles Chinatown sidewalk, died Friday at a French Hospital of a heart attack and complications caused by hypothermia. The woman, whose name was not released, was dressed in light clothing in the near-freezing temperatures.

A transient who was sleeping under a tree in Hansen Dam Park in Pacoima also was found dead Friday morning, apparently of exposure, police said. Several witnesses, who were camped in trailers at the park, said the man was intoxicated and refused shelter with them, said Lt. Maurice Rubio.

Autopsies were still pending, and the cause of each death had not been officially determined by coroner’s investigators.

“It’s unconscionable that two people have died,” Los Angeles City Councilman Ernani Bernardi, who was unsuccessful in getting the council to open public buildings, said Saturday. “Good Lord, the city takes on liability every time a person walks into a public building, so there’s no reason we couldn’t open some of these buildings until this cold spell is over.”

“We are holding Mayor Bradley and the City Council accountable,” Susan Gosman, a spokeswoman for the Los Angeles Union of the Homeless, said of the deaths. “It’s callous to suggest that a blanket is truly going to save somebody living on the street in this weather,” The union and members of Tent City held a rally at City Hall on Saturday evening to protest the city’s refusal to open city buildings to house those who have been unable to get into crowded downtown missions.

Bradley said Friday the city could not offer shelter because of problems involving legal liability and safety. Bradley maintains that the city has spent $50 million in the past two years to help the homeless, but some volunteer groups estimate that only 10,000 of the more than 50,000 homeless have places to stay at any one time.

The St. Vincent de Paul Center in downtown San Diego reported that there was a steady stream of people Saturday donating blankets, jackets, sweaters, and money to help the needy fight the cold.

Because of the cold snap, the San Diego Fire Department is also collecting warm clothes and blankets for the estimated 3,000 homeless people living on the city’s streets. Donations can be dropped off at any city fire station between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. until at least Friday. They will be distributed by the San Diego Rescue Mission.

San Diego Gas & Electric reported there was a significant increase in natural-gas consumption for a Saturday but no record was set. The record for most natural gas used in a one-hour period was broken Friday morning.

“There was definitely an increase, but no records were set,” SDG&E; spokeswoman Karen Duncan said. “The only reason why a record wasn’t set today was because we didn’t have the industrial load of a regular weekday, as well as that one hour in the morning where people are getting up to get ready for work and taking showers and the like.”

Southern California Gas Co. reported that customers set a Saturday use record by burning more than 4.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Cold weather also was blamed for the rupture of a large water pipe that flooded homes in Canyon Country in northern Los Angeles County on Saturday, fire officials said. Several homes had to be evacuated at dawn when the pipe coming from a 2-million gallon water tank ruptured.

In San Diego, Halstrup said that because of the increased urbanization around Lindbergh Field over the years, it is very difficult to set minimum temperature records in the area.

“It is more difficult to set cold temperature records because of the intense population growth in the downtown San Diego area,” he said. “The city is able to absorb more heat during the day because of the increased population and building activity, so it is quite significant to even get near records of this type.”

The weather was a boon for some Southern California businesses which reported brisk sales of everything from car batteries to mittens but a peril to farmers who were working to save their crops.

In Fullerton, the manager of Loma Vista Nursery estimated his loss at $20,000 after cold weather damaged much of his stock. In Westminster, a strawberry grower lost six acres of fruit to the frosty temperatures.

Citrus growers throughout the region were carefully monitoring the cold’s effects on their crops, which they hoped to save from frost by using large fans and heaters. A spokesman for the citrus growers said it will be several days before the damage can be assessed.

“We are not sure at this time how much damage has been done, but we do know for a fact some crops have been lost (in San Diego County),” National Weather Service forecaster Ray Robben said. “We’ve informed growers that frost conditions will continue through at least Wednesday night.”

In contrast, business was booming for winter clothing outlets, which reported a surge in demand for items many Southern Californians do not own--warm gloves, hats and mittens.

“It kind of works out well for the people shopping for winter stuff because all of it went on sale right after Christmas,” said Marian Russell, a sales clerk at May Co. in San Diego’s Mission Valley. “We have very few of our scarfs left, and the mittens are selling fast.”

In Glendale, Sportmart manager John Schmidt said, “People are really going for leather, and I mean the real warm arctic-type of gloves. I’m from back East, so it’s pretty amazing to me to see what people out here think is cold.”

Scott Nelson, assistant manager of Recreational Equipment Inc. in Carson, said the cold weather, coupled with good ski conditions in the mountains, has fueled heavy sales of “any and everything that’s warm.” The first item to sell out? “Hand warmers.”

Others found a way to warm up, California-style.

Nora Sullivan, assistant manager of Tanning Plus in the San Fernando Valley, said her company was swamped with people seeking the comfort of artificial sunshine.

“This winter weather’s been just fabulous for us because when the cold hits, they just flood in to escape it,” Sullivan said. “That, along with the New Year’s resolution many people make to improve the looks of their bodies, has created a very big crowd here this weekend.”

In Beverly Hills, people were fighting the frigid temperatures with fur.

Mike Tores, assistant manager of Flier Furs in Beverly Hills, said clients were pouring in to retrieve their stored minks, foxes and other fur coats.

“Everybody’s coming in to get them out because of the cold,” he said. “They’re picking up the heavy coats, the big ones, the long ones. They aren’t taking any of the jackets or small pieces at all. We’ve been very busy.”

In stark contrast, Salvation Army volunteers were working along Los Angeles’ Skid Row to distribute more than 2,500 donated blankets. The volunteers spent the night traveling the downtown streets in two vans distributing the blankets along with hot soup. Many of the homeless were huddled on streets over makeshift trash can fires, inside flimsy cardboard boxes and in doorways to get out of the chilling wind.

More than 100 blankets were delivered to the Ward A.M.E. Church in South Los Angeles, where church officials provided shelter and issued a challenge for other churches to do the same.

The demand for emergency shelter increased 50% in Los Angeles last year, the highest of 25 cities, according to a recent survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. The emergency hot line for Los Angeles County was unable to find housing for 42% of those who called last year, the study found. Ironically, researchers said, many of the homeless gravitate to Los Angeles because of its usually balmy weather.

Councilman Bernardi said that one possible answer would be to follow a program adopted in New York City. When temperatures hit the low 30s, the city sends buses throughout the city to forcefully take homeless to shelters.

He added that “unfortunately” deaths from cold are not unusual. There were at least seven last winter according to police records, he said. He added that the city was willing to spend $30,000 for insurance and thousands more for police protection for the city’s annual Street Scene music festival.

“But the real street scene,” he said, “is the plight of the homeless who can’t help themselves.”

Times staff writer Kathie Bozanich contributed to this story.