High Winds Kill 2, Snap Power Lines

Southern California’s penchant for extremism in all things--even climate--was apparent again Sunday as Santa Ana winds scoured the Southland from the San Fernando Valley to the Channel Islands, killing two men and sending power lines crashing, trucks toppling and dust, sand, tumbleweeds and shingles flying.

Gusts of up to 90 mph were blamed for the deaths of a man in a van hit by a tree branch in Lake View Terrace and another man who was electrocuted by a downed power line in Fontana. Homes were damaged by falling trees and flying street signs, while boats in Channel Islands Harbor were pounded by waves pushed by 85-mph winds.

“I’ve lived here for 33 years, and I don’t recall it being this bad,� said Yvonne Beach of Chatsworth, as she nervously eyed a lurching pine tree looming above her bedroom. “It feels like I’m going to be blown away.�

Also in Chatsworth, a frustrated Greg Reyes, in town to visit his brother, cut short an afternoon jog because of the conditions. Said Reyes, who lives in the Philippines: “This is like a typhoon without the rain.�

One of the storm’s fatalities occurred when a branch snapped off a pine tree in Lake View Terrace on Saturday night and fell onto a minivan on Eldridge Avenue, said Officer Leona Thomas of the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division.

The dead man, identified as Carlos Lopez, 82, of Sylmar, was returning home with his son, daughter-in-law and four grandchildren when the limb struck as they waited to make a left turn, Thomas said.

Lopez, who was in the backseat of the vehicle, died instantly from a broken neck, Thomas said. His daughter-in-law, Alicia Lopez, 36, had to be cut out of the vehicle by paramedics and was transported to Olive View/UCLA Medical Center suffering from neck pain. She was treated and released.

Her four children, ages 17, 15, 13 and 9, were unhurt, police said.

In Fontana, 28-year-old Carlos Jones was killed about 8:45 p.m. Saturday as he shoveled dirt onto a downed power line to extinguish a small electrical fire. A gust of wind lifted the cable and wound it around Jones, electrocuting him, Fontana police said.

Several San Fernando Valley homes suffered serious damage. Tarzana resident Charlie Stewart was sitting in the family room with his wife, Diane, and daughter Sunday afternoon when a 100-foot eucalyptus tree crashed into their house and knocked them off their seats.

Luckily, no one was injured, but Dunlap said the tree caused significant damage to their home and crushed a prized 280Z automobile, which had just been restored.

“It’s a bummer,� said Stewart, adding that he had asked the city months ago to cut trees on city property adjacent to his house, including the felled eucalyptus. He said he was told that city crews would eventually take care of the problem, but they had not done so by this weekend.

Doreen Rusen of Chatsworth also had a eucalyptus topple onto her house Saturday night. “I thought it was a massive explosion,� said Rusen, 64, who had recently completed earthquake repairs.

“If I’m going to look at the bright side, at least the tree is still on the roof and not in my house.�

The winds were expected to continue to diminish Sunday night into Monday, with 15- to 30-mph winds, but gusts could still reach as high as 50 mph, said meteorologist Curtis Brack of WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times.

By Monday evening into Tuesday, the winds are expected to drop to 10 to 20 mph, with gusts to 25 mph, Brack said.

Weak Santa Ana wind conditions of 5 to 15 mph are expected to continue throughout the week.

A lessening of the winds would be good news to freeway drivers, especially those in tall vehicles. On Sunday morning in the West Valley, winds whipping through the Santa Susana Pass may have caused a truck loaded with flowers to plummet 100 feet down a freeway embankment, slightly injuring the driver.

The big rig was heading east on the Ronald Reagan Freeway at 5:39 a.m. near Topanga Canyon Boulevard when the accident occurred, said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey. After falling down the steep embankment, the truck stayed upright. Its driver, a 26-year-old Moorpark man, suffered a minor knee injury and declined hospital treatment, Humphrey said.

Violent winds also tossed trees against utility lines, causing at least 5,000 Department of Water and Power customers to lose power.

“What happens is we restore power and as the winds pick up, other areas are affected,� said a spokesman for the DWP. “It’s a constant back and forth with us being able to get ahead of the winds and having the power restored.�

The bulk of the outages affected neighborhoods in Granada Hills, Canoga Park, Sun Valley and Woodland Hills. Scattered power outages were also reported in Glendale.

More widespread outages were in western San Bernardino County and Ventura County, where gusts neared 90 mph. Uprooted eucalyptus trees draped over the lines hampered repairs Sunday, when 130 Southern California Edison crews converged in western San Bernardino County, the hardest-hit region.

Amid all the destruction caused by the violent weather, there was an unexpected benefit for police on Lassen Street in Chatsworth on Sunday morning.

You could call it a windfall.

A power line clipped by a falling pine tree sparked a blaze in a side yard of a home in the 22500 block of the quiet suburban street. As the fire smoldered outside, firefighters rushed into the house.

There was no one inside--just three rooms full of 440 marijuana plants, LAPD Lt. Bernie Larralde said.

Not only did they find the high-quality pot, worth an estimated $250,000, police also confiscated generators, carbon-dioxide pumps, hydroponic lights, irrigation containers, fertilizer and transformers, he said.

The owner of the home where the plants were found told police he was leasing it. The lessee remained at large Sunday night.

Larralde said the marijuana farm was an unexpected find in the gated, ranch-style home.

A neighbor agreed.

“We get a lot of pornographers living up here,� the neighbor said, “but not this.�

Times staff writer Timothy Williams and correspondents Sharon Moeser and Jason Terada contributed to this story.