Crushed cars and toppled trees: Santa Ana winds cause major damage across San Fernando Valley
From crushed cars to toppled trees, Thursday's fierce winds wreaked havoc across SoCal.
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Powerful Santa Ana winds whipped across Southern California Thursday morning, toppling multiple large trees and snapping power lines.
Branch falls, crushes drivers' windshield in Van Nuys
A large tree came crashing down early Thursday afternoon and blocked Sherman Way in Van Nuys. The fall was so powerful, it sent a large branch flying, landing on a driver's windshield. AIR7 HD captured the driver still in his vehicle as firefighters assessed the damage.
Large tree blocks street, knocks down wires in Reseda
Another large tree came crashing down and blocked Tampa Avenue in Reseda, knocking down high-tension electrical power wires. Police assistance was required to help divert traffic.
Destructive winds knock over trees, power lines onto cars in Lake Balboa
Lake Balboa residents also saw wind damage with trees and power lines falling onto some cars.
Officials from the Department of Water and Power and LAFD were at the scene to assess the damage. A portion of Victory Boulevard was blocked as crews worked to restore power to the area and clean up debris.
Strong winds uproot large tree in Simi Valley
Over in Simi Valley, the winds caused another large tree to crash onto a house on Cutler Street around 3:30 a.m.
AIR7 HD was over the scene that showed the tree completely uprooted. No injuries were reported in that incident.
That damage provided a glimpse of what the strong gusts could leave behind across the region.
A wind advisory is in effect in the Santa Clarita and western San Fernando valleys, and in part of the San Gabriel Mountains. Some areas could see gusts as high as 75 miles per hour.
Meanwhile, flooding and strong rip currents could be a problem along the coast during the strong wind event.
The National Weather Service also warned that driving conditions could be dangerous in some areas.
"Winds that we're concerned with are in the Santa Clarita area, in the 5 corridor and the 14 corridor," said Fred Fielding with the Los Angeles County Fire Department. That is going to impact both trees and power lines possibly. We want to make sure that anyone avoids standing under them. It could also cause traffic delays, especially for any high-profile vehicles."
The windy conditions are expected to reach their peak strength Thursday, but will last through Friday.
City News Service contributed to this report.
