Winds Blasting to 100 M.P.H. Rip Southland

Hurricane-force winds battered Southern California on Thursday morning, shredding a blimp and closing the runways at Ontario International Airport, ripping parts of the roofs from two buildings, knocking over trucks, toppling trees and power poles and fanning two brush fires.

At least 29,000 customers lost electrical power as the cool, dry, Santa Ana winds blasted through areas below mountain canyons and passes at speeds as high as 100 m.p.h.

Police donned goggles to direct traffic as the down-slope winds whipped sand and dust into an opaque, tornado-like cloud between Ontario and San Bernardino, prompting a series of Sigalerts on Interstates 10 and 15 to warn of hazardous driving conditions.

The winds began to ease Thursday afternoon as a new weather system started pushing toward Southern California from the north.

And forecasters said at nightfall that “the Santa Anas are essentially over.” They said today should be mostly clear and rather on the cool side, with winds gusting to no more than 25 m.p.h. to 30 m.p.h. in the most exposed areas.

The gusts peaked shortly before dawn Thursday, hammering hardest at the foothill communities in western San Bernardino County.

The $6 million Airships Inc. craft, used by the Pepsi Cola Co. to advertise its Pepsi and Slice soft drinks, was “literally blown to bits” at its moorings at the Ontario airport.

“Large pieces of it took off in the wind and proceeded to head toward Chino,” airport manager Michael DiGirolamo said.

Little more than the nose cone of the airship remained attached to the mooring pole. The fabric of the craft was reduced to ribbons and the gondola was dumped about 30 yards from the pole.

A spokesman for Airships Inc. said the gondola and engines were saved. But the polyester fabric skin, designed to hold 233,100 cubic feet of helium, was a total loss. The spokesman said the skin could be rebuilt within six weeks, but too late for the craft’s next scheduled duty--the Super Bowl in Miami on Jan. 22.

Ontario Airport spokeswoman Angie Summers said winds gusting between 80 m.p.h. and 100 m.p.h., blowing dust and debris from the shredded airship onto the main runways combined to close the airport from 9 p.m. Wednesday until about 7:45 a.m. Thursday.

She said that at least 45 flights were delayed, canceled, or diverted to other airfields, including Los Angeles International Airport.

An air cargo container pushed by the winds slammed into the side of a Southwest Airlines jetliner parked at Ontario. Southwest spokesman Ron Todd said the impact dented the Boeing 737 and punched a small hole in the fuselage.

A section of roof was torn from an Ontario Airport building that houses a kitchen providing food for up to 100 flights a day. David McMichael, shift manager at the Marriott In-Flite Services plant, said a 300-square-foot slab was torn from the building’s roof at about 2 a.m.

In nearby Rancho Cucamonga, the winds tore away a patch of roof at a San Bernardino County sheriff’s substation, scattering paper work and personal effects around a briefing room and locker area. Several deputies said their personal cars in the parking lot were damaged by airborne debris.

Battalion Chief Jerry Hunter of the Orange County Fire Department said a 100-acre blaze in Trabuco Canyon was started by two arcing electrical wires at about 8:20 p.m. Wednesday.

He said it took about 220 firefighters from throughout the county more than three hours to control the blaze, which briefly threatened about 50 homes in the Rose Canyon area.

“It burned up quite a few back yards, but the houses were saved,” said fire spokeswoman Kathleen Cha.

There were no reports of deaths or serious injuries in the storm.

Late Thursday, a brush fire fanned by gusts of up to 60 m.p.h. spread rapidly in the Ramona area of San Diego County, blackening about 160 acres.

No homes were threatened and California Department of Forestry officials expected full control by this morning. Officials said a downed power line ignited the thick grass and brush in the area.

Southern California Edison Co. said power was restored by late Thursday morning to most of the 29,000 customers blacked out in Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said only about 100 of its customers, in the Canoga Park and Sun Valley areas, lost electricity and in most cases, power was restored promptly.

Interstates 10 and 15 remained open Thursday, but California Highway Patrol Officer James O’Brien said there were overturned trucks “everywhere.”

“The most spectacular blow-over was where Interstates 10 and 15 meet in Ontario,” said CHP Officer Vivian Firlien. “It left part of a truck hanging over the edge of one of those high transition roads, dangling over the motorists below.”

Lance Davis, general manager of a large truck stop in Ontario, said at least 700 big rigs were parked there at one point early Thursday, waiting for the winds to ease.

Because of the blowing dust and sand, traffic in some areas of western San Bernardino County was still moving at less than 5 m.p.h. at midday.

“Visibility was down to 10 feet in some places,” Firlien said.

Dave Beusterien, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times, said the high winds were generated by a large area of high pressure stationed over the Great Basin late Wednesday and early Thursday.

He said the high pressure began to weaken late Thursday as a moderate, low-pressure storm system started to move south along the coast toward Southern California. The storm system will bring increasing clouds, and a “slight chance” of showers, to Southern California early Saturday, Beusterien said.

It should be mostly sunny and clear on Sunday, he said, with increasing clouds on Monday and Tuesday.

The high temperature at the Los Angeles Civic Center on Thursday was 61 degrees. Relative humidity ranged from 41% to 14%.

Eric Malnic reported from Los Angeles, Louis Sahagun reported from the Ontario area. Times Staff Writer Jean Davidson contributed to this article.