Winds wreak havoc

Deepa Bharath

It was so windy that trees dropped down with a thud, power lines

collapsed and some didn’t have to turn off the light switch before

going to bed.

It was so windy that makeshift stop signs at blacked-out traffic

lights blew away and street signs snapped off the beams and hung on

one bolt like an action movie victim waiting to be rescued.

It was so windy that boats slipped off their moorings.

It was so windy in Newport-Mesa on Tuesday that the Harbor

Patrol’s wind-measuring device broke.

Santa Ana winds winnowed through the streets like a fiery vandal

Sunday night and Monday morning, littering the streets, tearing down

tree branches and mercilessly slapping outages on hundreds of homes.

Both Costa Mesa and Newport Beach suffered from an array of

effects. Cleanup crews worked through the day.

“We had at least 20 larger trees as well as tree limbs go down,”

said Bill Morris, Costa Mesa’s director of public services. “Most of

the trees and limbs took the power lines with them, and we had people

working from 6 a.m. almost until 5 p.m.”

Southern California Edison officials said several hundred

customers in the Newport-Mesa area were without power Monday morning.

As of Monday evening, 90 customers were in the dark in Costa Mesa and

200 in Newport Beach. Some areas may remain without power until late

this morning, officials said.

Edison crews will prioritize outages that pose the greatest public

hazards, said Kim Scherer, an Edison spokeswoman.

“At this point, we don’t know exactly how long it’s going to take

to wrap it up,” she said. “The outages are spread throughout the

cities and it is difficult to pinpoint specific areas.”

Newport-Mesa public safety agencies were also busy taking calls

from anxious residents. Police officers manned inoperable traffic

lights. There were no major incidents reported as a result of the

outages, but drivers like Steve Stafford sure believed it was “crazy

out there.”

“It’s pretty bad,” he said, talking on a cell phone, while the

wind howled in the background. Stafford said he had just driven down

Bristol Street and the lights were out at the Irvine Avenue, Campus

Drive and Jamboree Road intersections.

“It’s 10 times worse because the wind is blowing off the four-way

stop signs at the blacked-out intersections,” he said. “No one’s

stopping, people are trying to beat each other and it’s kind of

scary.”

Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol deputies worked overtime

Monday on two fireboats and several patrol boats.

“We’ve had several boats drift off their moorings,” said Deputy

Herbert Siegmund. “Earlier [on Monday], a sport fisher got torn off

the docks.”

The Harbor Patrol issued a small-craft advisory late Sunday night

that will remain in effect today. Gusts of 60 mph also shut down the

Balboa Ferry on Monday.

The winds are expected to last at least until this afternoon, said

Frank O’Leary, meteorologist at the National Weather Service in San

Diego.

“We have a high-wind warning for all areas through [this]

morning,” he said. Balmy temperatures -- in the high 70s -- can also

be expected, as always, with the Santa Ana winds, O’Leary said.

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at deepa.bharath@latimes.com.