Wind Does Most Harm Beyond O.C.

On a cold and windy night, with gusts of wind blowing down trees and plywood walls and even causing the closure of lanes on a busy area bridge, Orange County residents escaped relatively unrustled.

A tree crushed a car in Huntington Beach. Power lines came down in Anaheim. Security alarms were tricked throughout the county by gusts of wind the National Weather Service said blew as hard as 25 mph.

But more serious damage was caused in surrounding counties, where numerous wind advisories were issued Sunday after winds gusting up to 70 mph blew along the coast. High winds in Los Angeles fueled a brush fire and knocked down a construction barricade at Universal CityWalk, sending seven people to the hospital with minor injuries, authorities said.

The blustery conditions prompted the National Weather Service to issue a wind advisory for Los Angeles County through 9 a.m. today.

The weather service said Orange County can expect winds today up to 30 mph in canyons and passes.

In one of the most serious wind-related incidents Sunday, a cable holding scaffolding above the Vincent Thomas Bridge snapped, shutting down the westbound lanes between San Pedro and Terminal Island.

But Orange County officials said Sunday brought the ordinary problems of a windy day in the area.

“We had some alarms tricked. We had another tree down at Civic Center,” said Lt. William Stuart of the Huntington Beach police. “It’s just typical stuff.”