Tornado rips up rooftop

If Monday was all about the rain, Tuesday was all about the wind.

For the second day in a row, a series of extreme weather systems battered Southern California, prompting a rare tornado warning from the National Weather Service. On Monday, a rainstorm flooded streets, a school and a church. Tuesday brought with it a tornado touching down in Costa Mesa.

Newport Beach Fire Department officials Tuesday reported measuring a wind gust of up to 93 mph at lifeguard headquarters at the Newport Pier. Sustained winds were measured at more than 50 mph there, officials said.

In Costa Mesa, business owners reported experiencing the force of at least one twister in the afternoon.

“All of a sudden it sounded like there was a herd of elephants stampeding on the roof,” said Xavier Kohan, a financial consultant with a second-story office in Ocean View Industrial Park, 1001 W. 17th St. “And then just like that, I looked out the window and just saw huge pieces of the roof flying away.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it. The pieces were just hanging in the air, swirling,” he said. “By the time you realized what was happening, it was over.”

Witnesses described seeing a “curved wind,” where nothing flew straight but everything was tossed hundreds of feet in circular directions.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning from about 1 to 2 p.m., noting that the weather pattern showed an alarming rotation.

In that hour, the industrial park was hit with a tornado that ripped off two-thirds of the top layer of its roof, causing between $100,000 and $200,000 in damage, said Costa Mesa fire Battalion Chief Bill Kershaw.

Witnesses said the twister lasted about 30 seconds and headed northeast, deeper into the city. Newport-Mesa school district officials said it damaged a sign at a nearby adult education center.

“The awning was just ripping off right in front of my eyes. Giant shards of wood and plywood flew,” said Clifford Chapman, who lives in the Orange Coast Mobile Home Park across the street from the industrial park.

The industrial park houses 20 businesses at West 17th Street and Whittier Avenue on the west side of Costa Mesa. Police shut down a part of Whittier while crews cleaned up the huge pieces — some 10 to 15 feet long and several feet wide — that littered the building parking lot and streets. Cars were hit with mud and debris from the roof, and bushes and trees. The property owner said the building had insurance to cover the damage.

About the same time that the twister spun through, Todd Ferguson said his business, Castle Tile, was hit by a tornado just a few miles away.

“It was jet black outside. There was thunder and lightning for a few minutes before,” Ferguson said. “You could feel everything happening. And then all of a sudden, the door just blew open and everything blew inside,” he said.

He and another employee pushed the door shut and locked it, then Ferguson went to check on one of his employees. She was under a desk, surrounded by broken glass, he said. The wind was too much for the business’ front window and shattered it, he said.

“I’ve never seen anything like this. It came and then was just gone instantly. It was calm right after,” Ferguson said.

Public safety officials in Newport-Mesa said there were no major car crashes Tuesday or flooding. The California Highway Patrol has been inundated with accident reports since the storms came in, said deputy Denise Quesada. On Jan. 11, there were five crashes on the 73, 55 and 405 freeways in or around Newport-Mesa. On Monday, there were 36, she said. In Orange County, there were more than 300 traffic collisions reported, well more than double the week before, she said.

Officials with the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol said that outside of a few loose boats, weather has not been much of an issue.

School district officials said several schools have reported water damage from Monday’s rain and a few structures built for shade outside had their roofs ripped off because of Tuesday’s wind.

Buses were late in dropping off students after school Tuesday, and students were kept inside school while the tornado warning was in effect, said district spokeswoman Laura Boss.

High wind and high surf advisories, with winds gusting up to 45 mph and surf expected to get up to 11 feet with extremely dangerous rip currents, remain in effect for coastal Orange County cities.

According to the National Weather Service, residents can expect more of the same this afternoon and into tonight.

More powerful weather systems will bring rain, 60 mph winds and possibly hail through Friday.

Flood, wind and high surf warnings will remain in effect today.