Advertisement

Desert Winds Hit County : Power Cut to Homes, Businesses

Share
TIMES STAFF WRITERS

Gusty desert winds whipsawed Orange County today, ripping signs off their posts and interrupting power to at least 16,600 homes and businesses.

Gusts up to 37 m.p.h. turned Christmas tree lots into swirling masses of pine needles and sawdust. The powerful winds prompted the Orange County Fire Department to call a “red flag alert,” an extra-high state of readiness to protect against the threat of wind-whipped fire.

The winds blew a steady 23 m.p.h. at John Wayne Airport with occasional gusts to 35 m.p.h., the National Weather Service said. At the Marine Corps Air Station-El Toro, winds gusted to 37 m.p.h.

Advertisement

“It will decrease tomorrow and start up again Wednesday through Friday,” said National Weather Service spokeswoman Pat Rowe.

Southern California Edison crews were kept busy trying to restore electrical service during the morning. Spokesman Steve Nelson said most of the outages lasted about half a minute as branches briefly crossed power lines. But 6,400 homes, he said, were affected for up to two hours.

“Most (of the outages) are tree-caused,” Nelson said.

One of the outages interrupted power at the complex of county buildings in Santa Ana. County Public Information Officer Helen Lotos said auxiliary generators kicked in immediately.

Operations were reported normal at John Wayne Airport except that airliners were taking off in an inland direction rather than ascending over the ocean.

Motorists were holding up well under the buffeting of wind gusts. The California Highway Patrol reported no wind-related troubles. Blowing sand and dust, however, limited visibility to about a mile on the Riverside Freeway in Anaheim.

Several Christmas tree lots were hard hit. Among them was the Target Store’s lot on Adams Avenue in Huntington Beach, where most of the 3,000 trees were blown over at about 7 a.m.

Advertisement

“Just about our entire group of trees got nailed,” said Robert Barba, a garden worker.

Workers were setting up the trees, this time with rope and nets because the winds remained fierce, Barba said.

The lot had minor damage and about $100 worth of cactus and potted plants “really got thrashed,” he said.

Parent volunteers at a Boy Scout lot on 17th Street and Newport Boulevard in Tustin anticipated the winds last night and set the trees on their sides.

“We kicked them all over so they wouldn’t get damaged,” said one parent who declined to give her name.

Still, parents were bothered by blowing sawdust this morning.

“It’s just the sawdust blowing, but our customers are our biggest problem,” the parent said. “It’s just blowing in our faces.”

Target Store’s lot on West Lincoln Avenue in Anaheim was closed this morning because of the wind.

Advertisement

“It was just hard to see,” said a Target clerk who declined to give her name. “Needles were blowing everywhere.”

Damage wasn’t limited to cut trees. Santa Ana’s Public Works Department had crews out this morning to clean up after about 15 trees that were blown down in the city.

Times staff writers Catherine Gewertz, James Robbins and Mark Landsbaum contributed to this article.

Advertisement