Wild Winds Down Power Lines, Trees Across Southland
PORTER RANCH (CBSLA.com/AP) — Winds continued to wreak havoc on the Southland overnight, toppling trees and causing power outages in a prelude to another round of unseasonably warm weather.
The National Weather Service says the winds arrived Tuesday night with surprising strength, gusting to 83 mph at Whitaker Peak in northern Los Angeles County, and bringing a phenomenon called a mountain wave that broke over the Beverly Hills area.
Power outages hit 2,900 utility customers in the Beverly Hills and West Hollywood areas.
Gusts dislodged a West Hollywood billboard, forcing it to lean against a building near a Hamburger Haven at Santa Monica and Robertson. Crews cordoned off the area in case the sign comes crashing down.
Scaffolding was blown off a building in North Hollywood.
Tuesday night, the winds were so strong that they knocked a tree in Benedict Canyon down onto a moving Mercedes-Benz, which was so mangled that crews had to cut off the roof to extricate the driver.
Residents felt the winds acutely in Porter Ranch, where gusts kicked up to 50 mph overnight.
Wind diminished by noon Wednesday, but forecasters say residents can still expect them to pick up again throughout the week, transitioning from north to northeast — the offshore Santa Ana flow that will push daily highs into the 80s and even 90s through Friday.
It's the latest round of summerlike heat as winter turned to spring this month.
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