Three Die as Winds Whip Up Seas, Sand

Three fishermen died Sunday after their 30-foot boat broke apart in rough seas off Anacapa Island in the Santa Barbara Channel, authorities said.

Later in the day, gusty Santa Ana winds whipped through the Antelope Valley, creating a wall of sand that was more than a mile high and near-zero visibility that led to chain-reaction traffic accidents involving more than 40 vehicles. At least 14 people were injured, none critically.

Near Anacapa, Coast Guard helicopters and rescue boats pulled six crewmen of the Galliano from the sea after the boat sank late Sunday morning, but three died of exposure, Coast Guard officials said.

The victims were Thomas Lee Moyd, 33, and Ron Bailey, 51, both of Oxnard, and boat owner Billy Joe Halfacre, 62, of Culver City. Ernest Hanson, 46, was admitted to St. Johns Hospital in Santa Monica, and the other two crewmen were treated and released.

The survivors said the boat was hit by a large wave and broke apart.

In the worst series of crashes in the high desert, more than 20 vehicles slammed into each other in three separate pileups along a half-mile stretch of the Antelope Valley Freeway between Avenue A and Avenue B, said California Highway Patrol Officer Ruffel Galura. About 15 minutes later and two miles to the south, nine vehicles collided on Sierra Highway near Avenue F.

Gusts as high as 55 m.p.h. sent up a wall of sand that reached as high as 5,500 feet, according to a helicopter pilot.

“I went into the wall of dust and there was no way I could have avoided it,” said Trevor Crane, whose car slammed into the back of a pickup truck. “I tried swerving and even that didn’t help.

“Visibility went down to zero, and I slammed on the brakes,” said a shaken Crane, 21, an airman who was heading back to Edwards Air Force Base from Lancaster when sand enveloped his car on Sierra Highway. “The next thing I know is I saw the rear end of a truck and that’s where it all ended.”

Crane, who is assigned to the Air Weather Service at Edwards but had the day off, said he suffered bumps and bruises. The driver of the truck did not appear to be injured, authorities said.

In all, 14 people were treated at area hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries, officers said.

Other wind-related accidents involving at least 10 vehicles were reported on surface streets in the region, the CHP said.

The winds were generated by a high pressure area over the West.

Times staff writer Aaron Curtiss contributed to this story.