Even Strong Winds Can’t Pull Plug on County’s Christmas

Like the Grinch that stole Christmas, strong Santa Ana winds swept through Orange County on Christmas Day, knocking out power to more than 25,000 homes--power that families needed to roast turkeys and light their Christmas trees as presents were unwrapped.

Whipping winds reached 80 mph in northern Orange County, according to Paul Klein, a Southern California Edison spokesman.

The sound of silence was too much for one Garden Grove family.

“The quiet was too loud, so we brought our gifts to the car,” said Michelle Funk Melgar. She and her daughter Christina, 15, played Rosie O’Donnell’s Christmas tape and unwrapped their presents.

Then they went back inside, and, instead of roast turkey, ate ham sandwiches and potato chips.

“Electricity or no electricity, we made it work,” Melgar said.

A few blocks away, the Martinez family of Garden Grove also managed to make Christmas work without power.

Esteban Martinez had made menudo, a traditional soup of tripe and chile, to serve to visitors for Christmas breakfast.

But the dish wouldn’t go over well cold, so the family drove to Martinez’s son’s house, where the stove was working.

“It’s a good thing the relatives came late, because we had no way to heat the soup,” Martinez said.

Klein said Edison restored power to all but 5,000 homes by 10:30 a.m., and only 500 homes were without power by late afternoon.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s happening today,” he said.

Throughout the county, dozens of Edison workers spent Christmas in cherry pickers fixing downed power lines.

A power pole teetering in the wind on Holt Avenue in Tustin forced sheriff’s deputies to close the street to through traffic from Irvine Avenue to 17th Street. “Wind is blowing,” said Orange County Sheriff’s Lt. John Brimmage. But the Holt Avenue closure was the department’s only one. “That’s it, fortunately,” he said.

In Santa Ana, wind rattling doors and windows prompted many false alarms to police from residents fearing someone had broken into their homes, said Sgt. Alan Caddell.

“We had a lot of false alarms,” he said. “We did have a few trees go down. It was an inconvenience, and a lot of dirt and debris blowing around, but nothing major.”

Breezes are expected to continue for at least two more days, with gusts up to 25 mph this morning and slight breezes below passes and canyons on Wednesday. Except for a chance of morning fog along the coast on Wednesday, skies on both days will be mostly sunny with temperatures in the mid-60s to mid-70s, said Amy Talmage, a meteorologist with WeatherData, Inc. By Thursday, Talmage said, winds are likely to have subsided with sunny skies continuing and some coastal fog remaining.