Colossal Windstorm Leave Thousands without Power
Trees Down/Cars Damaged in Most Cities in San Gabriel Valley
By Terry Miller
A colossal windstorm with hurricane-force winds raced through the San Gabriel Valley early Thursday, damaging buildings, uprooting hundreds of trees and knocking out power to thousands across the San Gabriel Valley.
“Ive never seen anything like this before.” said one long time Temple City Diane Johnson. Her house on Primrose suffered the aftermath of a giant tree which fell and landed on her neighbor’s roof and then on her three cars in the driveway.
As Beacon news photographers were on scene, Temple city officials speculated that the tree was city property and that the residents would be covered for damages.
While Temple City was moping up Friday morning and assessing the massive destruction brought on by Thursday mornings 80 mph winds firefighters and emergency workers from throughout the county were meeting at Temple City Hall discussing their game plan.
Southern California Edison was racing around the clock to restore power in all cities but Temple City seemed particularly hard hit with power not expected back until Sunday in some areas.
On Thursday evening residents and volunteers were helping divert traffic from danger areas in Temple City.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovitch declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles county…opening up the federal funds needed to help with the clean up Most local schools and many businesses remain closed Friday due to a lack of power.
Police officers in all cities are reminding residents to be cautious and respond to traffic light outages as a four way stop sign.
Cable companies including Charter say thousands are without telephone, TV and internet.
The wild windstorm spread across six states, with high-wind warnings issued in parts of California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming.
The National Weather Service called the event the strongest windstorm in the region in years.
The San Gabriel Mission suffered damage when a large eucalyptus tree fell and landed in the cemetery.
A memorial in the Mission Cemetery was broken.The life-size image of Jesus nailed to a huge wooden cross had been there since Good Friday in 1935.