Trees, Power Lines Toppled by Winds Gusting to 85 MPH

Strong Santa Ana winds wreaked havoc throughout Southern California this weekend, causing the deaths of two men, knocking down tree limbs and power lines across Ventura County, sparking fires and damaging boats and docks in local harbors.

Prevailing winds from 35 to 45 mph, with occasional gusts as high as 85 mph, caused scattered power outages throughout the county, blew down fences and littered streets, yards and parking lots with mountains of dead leaves, trash and other debris.

Seven power line poles blew down early Sunday morning north of Moorpark, forcing the closure of Grimes Canyon Road, a mountainous stretch of California 23 connecting the city with the town of Fillmore and California 126 in the Santa Clara Valley.

The California Highway Patrol closed the road about 7 a.m.

Fred Trueblood, a spokesman for Southern California Edison in Ventura, said a 15-person crew was at work in the area Sunday afternoon, but could not estimate when the work would be complete.

Authorities said high winds whipping through the Santa Susana Pass may have caused a truck loaded with flowers to plummet 100 feet down a steep freeway embankment Sunday morning, slightly injuring the driver, a 26-year-old Moorpark man.

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The big rig was heading east on the Ronald Reagan Freeway at 5:39 a.m. near Topanga Canyon Boulevard when the accident occurred, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. The truck stayed upright and the driver, whose name wasn’t released, suffered a minor knee injury but refused hospital treatment, Humphrey said.

The Santa Anas also caused numerous power outages throughout the county due to downed lines.

“Since the windstorm started at 11 a.m. yesterday, 130,000 customers have experienced temporary or longer-term outages,” Millie Paul, an Southern California Edison spokeswoman, said Sunday. “It’s been one of our harder hit areas.”

Paul said the company was taking about 300 calls an hour Sunday morning reporting downed lines, power outages and other weather-related problems. The volume increased to about 500 an hour by noon as strong gusts continued to buffet the area. Edison officials said two-thirds of the outages lasted 30 seconds or less.

Downed lines and blowing debris from trees sparked several fires that were quickly extinguished before the winds could blow them out of control. About 1:30 p.m., the shake roof of a garage behind a four-unit apartment building at 520 N. Ventura Road in Oxnard was set on fire by a burning palm frond. The falling frond crossed two power lines and ignited before landing on the roof.

A person walking in the alley behind the apartments noticed the burning roof and sprayed water from a garden hose to keep the fire under control until firefighters arrived.

“With winds like these today, we could have lost the whole building,” said Oxnard Fire Department Capt. Mike O’Malia, adding that the good Samaritan left the scene without giving his name.

O’Malia said the fire, which caused about $2,000 in damage, was extinguished a few minutes after firefighters arrived. There were no injuries.

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In Port Hueneme, sparks from downed power lines ignited several palm trees on the south side of Bard Road at 5th Street late Saturday night, showering nearby houses with burning debris.

Port Hueneme police evacuated the residents of five houses that were in danger of catching fire from the rain of burning palm fronds and sparks. Two police officers suffered minor burns and smoke inhalation after being trapped in a backyard by blowing embers while attempting to alert a resident whose windows and doors were blocked by security bars.

The officers, Daniel Morgan and Romeo Alvarez, were treated at St. John’s Regional Medical Center in Oxnard and released. No residents were injured.

In Simi Valley, Bill Jennings, 48, and his wife, Penny, were shaken about 9:30 a.m. Saturday when a 50-foot eucalyptus tree fell on their house in the 2700 block of Lemon Drive, across from Rancho Tapo Community Park.

“The house just kind of shuddered. I went back to see what happened and there was a tree,” Bill Jennings said. “The tree and the debris filled the bathtub.”

On Sunday, crews labored to remove the city-owned tree, planted 18 feet away on Kilaine Drive, before it could be uprooted by the high winds and cause further damage.

“The trunk and bottom half of the tree is still connected to the house,” Jennings said. He estimated the damage at $40,000 to $50,000.

High winds also caused significant damage at Channel Islands Harbor, when boats straining against their lines buckled the concrete docks they were tied to.

“We sustained some pretty good damage on the docks, but everything is under control,” said F. Steven Buenger, who owns the dock below the Marine Emporium and Coast Chandlery, on the north side of the harbor near Hollywood Beach. “When the winds start really pumping, the boats bust the cement,” he said.

Buenger, who also owns and operates the Coast Chandlery, a marine supply store, said residents of nearby Mandalay Bay bought up much of his inventory of rope and boat bumpers over the weekend to keep the high winds and waves from damaging their vessels.

Buenger said this weekend’s winds were the worst he had seen since the 1980s, when a gust tore the roof off the Whale’s Tail, a nearby restaurant.

“I’ve been here since ‘74, my dad started this place in ‘64, and this is one of the worst,” he said.

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The winds proved fatal in two separate incidents Sunday.

One of the storm’s fatalities occurred when a branch snapped off a pine tree in Lake View Terrace on Saturday night and fell onto a minivan at Cranston and Eldridge avenues, breaking the neck of Carlos Lopez, 82, of Sylmar, killing him instantly.

In Fontana, 28-year-old Carlos Jones was killed about 8:45 p.m. Saturday as he shoveled dirt on a downed power line to extinguish a small electrical fire. A gust of wind lifted the cable and wound it around Jones, electrocuting him, Fontana police said.

Curtis Brack, a forecaster for WeatherData, which predicts weather for The Times, said the winds should die down to 15 to 30 mph today, with gusts up to 50 mph in some canyons, and continue to peter out during the week.

Times correspondent Scott Steepleton and staff writer Nicholas Riccardi contributed to this report.