Wild Weather Strikes Southern California
Pastor Dale Morgan
Wild Weather Strikes Southern California*
Wednesday March 28, 2007 12:31 PM
By DAISY NGUYEN
Associated Press Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) - A quick wintry blast brought fierce winds and cold
temperatures to normally mild Southern California, but did little to
quench the parched region.
Tuesday's storm startled residents, who watched as clear morning skies
quickly darkened and gusting winds ripped roofs off several buildings,
capsized boats and downed power lines and trees.
``I've never seen weather like this,'' said Larry Prantner, manager of
Cavi at the Big Oaks Lodge restaurant in the Santa Clarita community of
Saugus. ``It's March and I'm wearing a coat and starting a fire at the
fireplace.''
The storm was created by moisture and cool air sweeping through warmer,
dry air, meteorologists at the National Weather Service said. Warmer
temperatures were expected through the rest of the week.
While the weather system sprinkled snow and hail across mountain and
high desert communities, it wasn't nearly enough to make a dent in the
huge shortfall of rain so far this year.
``In most places, we got zero or trace amounts of rain,'' Bonnie
Bartling, a National Weather Service specialist, told the Los Angeles
Times. ``Even in the mountains, we didn't get a whole lot of rain. This
was mostly a wind system.''
Los Angeles is facing its driest year on record. Only 2.47 inches of
rain have fallen in downtown Los Angeles since July 1. In a normal year,
more than 13 inches of rain would have fallen by now.
On Tuesday, winds tore off the roof of Orange County Fire Authority's
aviation building in Fullerton and harbor patrol officers made numerous
rescues involving capsized craft in Newport Bay and offshore.
A large section of roof laminate and asphalt tile landed on four cars
and caused minor damages, but no injuries, said Orange County fire Capt.
Stephen J. Miller. He said fire crews also responded to numerous reports
of downed trees and power lines.
``It was pretty crazy out there. I was driving on the freeway and saw
many dust storms,'' Miller said.
Winds gusting up to 40 mph caused a small powerboat and three outriggers
to capsize, said Orange County sheriff's Sgt. David Ginther. He said
members of the Newport Beach Harbor Patrol rescued a man whose 11-foot
boat capsized about a mile off Laguna Beach.
In Newport Bay, 24 members of a University of California at Irvine
rowing crew were thrown into the water when their boats flipped. Some
students swam ashore while others were rescued from the frigid water,
Ginther said.
Four electrical transmission towers blew down and a fifth was damaged in
the eastern Los Angeles County city of Commerce, and a dozen power poles
came down, too, said Southern California Edison spokesman Gil Alexander.
About 165,000 Southern California Edison customers had outages during
the day, but only about 11,700 remained blacked out late Tuesday, the
utility said. Another 20,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
customers throughout the city also lost power, said spokeswoman Kim Hughes.