Winds come, damage stays
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A powerful wind storm tore down trees and knocked out power in Pasadena and surrounding cities Wednesday night, leaving the streets littered with debris, schools closed and officials declaring states of emergency.
Roughly 200,000 San Gabriel Valley customers lost power after winds of up to 80 miles per hour hit the region Wednesday night and continued until daylight. Downed power lines sparked several fires, with one fire sending four Pasadena residents to the hospital. Toppled trees slammed into homes and businesses, and winds knocked down signs and sent outdoor furniture flying.
Los Angeles County, Pasadena, South Pasadena and San Marino were among the jurisdictions to declare states of emergency.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) said state and federal officials will review the declarations of emergency. “Depending on which declarations are made, it opens up loan assistance for homeowners and outright assistance for municipalities in cleaning up after the disaster,” he said. The emergency declarations will allow the city to tap state and federal funds to help pay for cleanup costs and storm-related damage.
“This is the worst wind disaster in the area in 35 years,” Schiff said. “You see trees down like this in other parts of the country, but I don’t remember it ever happening here.”
Power was expected to be out for thousands of residents until Friday morning and possibly beyond.
Schiff said Altadena and Temple City were the hardest-hit parts of the region in terms of power outages.
Pasadena
Many Pasadena streets were impassable and strewn with debris Thursday morning.
The first power outages in Pasadena were reported at 10:20 p.m. Wednesday, with new outages occurring until 6:12 a.m. Thursday. At that time 6,155 homes or businesses were without electricity, about 10% of Pasadena Water and Power’s roughly 62,000 customers, said spokeswoman Erica Rolufs.
More than 2,400 customers were still without power as of 7 p.m. Thursday night.
Most of the outages occurred north of Colorado Boulevard, Rolufs said. “It’s mostly all related to overhead lines coming down due to trees and other debris falling on to the lines,” she said.
Several small fires broke out, likely as a result of downed power lines. Four people received serious burns from a blaze at a residence in the 100 block of Penn Street at around 2 a.m., Pasadena Fire Department spokeswoman Lisa Derderian said.
The victims, one of whom was critically injured, were taken to a local hospital. Their identities were not released.
Pasadena public schools and Pasadena City College were closed Thursday. College officials were holding off until morning on announcing whether classes will be held Friday.
But Pasadena Unified School District officials said schools will be closed Friday as staffers assess damages.
Two campuses sustained significant damage, said David Azcarraga, the district’s facilities chief.
At Willard Elementary School, a tree fell against the roof of a classroom wing, breaking windows and creating a hole in the roof. At Madison Elementary School, a fire sprinkler line broke, causing minor water damage.
More than 700 city-owned trees came down during the windstorm, including 450 that had lined streets, said Mayor Bill Bogaard. An unknown number fell on private property.
“Every block in every neighborhood of the city has been adversely affected,” Bogaard said. “There has been no other natural disaster in Pasadena that has been quite as widespread.”
South Pasadena
South Pasadena officials estimated at least a dozen residences were damaged in the storm, as police, fire and public workers spent the day clearing debris and inspecting damaged properties.
Power to the city began to falter around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday, according to Southern California Edison.
As of Thursday evening, power was still out for about two-thirds of city residents, with city leaders uncertain when it would be restored.
South Pasadena also suffered a water shortage Thursday, as the storm knocked out power to a facility that pumped water from the Wilson Reservoir in San Gabriel. As a result residents west of Meridian Avenue lacked water pressure for several hours Thursday, but the city received supplies from Pasadena and the Metropolitan Water District to bring water to near-normal levels, according to South Pasadena Interim City Manager Sergio Gonzalez.
“Water quality was never a question,” Gonzalez said. “There’s no reason to be concerned about any contamination.”
While downed power lines caused fires in neighboring cities, including Alhambra and Pasadena, no fires occurred in South Pasadena Thursday.
South Pasadena Unified School District schools were closed Thursday and will remain closed Friday, reopening on Monday. School board member Joseph Loo said the wind ripped roof tiles from older buildings at South Pasadena Middle School.
San Marino
San Marino officials reported early Thursday morning that about 120 trees were down, with some blocking major thoroughfares including Huntington Drive, Meridian Avenue, Los Robles Avenue and San Gabriel Boulevard.
By the end of the day, city officials had declared 13 homes damaged. One home was red-tagged, meaning residents cannot return until repairs are made, and three were yellow-tagged, meaning that residents can enter buildings only to retrieve belongings.
San Marino Unified School District campuses were closed Thursday, as was the city library. Schools will be open on Friday, board President Chris Norgaard said.
The power went out in the city at 10:49 p.m. Wednesday, according to Southern California Edison. As of Thursday night most residents still lacked power, and City Manager Matt Ballantyne said he expected the power to be out until at least Friday morning.
“No one was hurt, thankfully there has been no injuries,” Ballantyne said.