Photo: Gary W. Carter / Corbis Documentary / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Powerful winds toppled a number of trees around the Southland Thursday, damaging cars and houses in neighborhoods including Lake Balboa, Altadena, Pasadena and La Crescenta, while leaving one person injured in Pico Rivera.
Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters responded to the 16600 block of West Victory Boulevard about 2:15 a.m. in Lake Balboa, where they found several cars blocking driveways and a tree on top of one of them, according to the LAFD.
Video footage showed the tree fell onto one lane of Victory and downed power lines hovered over and covered some vehicles. Officials from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power were notified.
Winds also blew down a tree in San Fernando on Lucas Street, and another in Pasadena in the 1700 block of Locust Street in Pasadena.
About 11 a.m. in La Crescenta, a large tree fell onto a house in the 5400 block of Pineridge Drive, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department. No one was hurt, the fire department reported.
The resident told reporters she was in the basement at the time when she heard a crash.
"It sounded like an explosion, to be honest," she said. "I immediately ran upstairs, I was on the phone with my brother, I was like `something happened, a tree was through my house.' I ran outside.
"Luckily the gardener was here. He came out and checked on me, made sure everyone was OK. ... It pretty much collapsed the living room, the kitchen. Thank God I wasn't in the kitchen. If I had been at the sink, I'd have a tree through my head right now. But I'm still in my pajamas. I haven't even had chance to even really fully process it. But hopefully we can get it all taken care of really quickly."
Around the same time, what appeared to be at least two large trees fell onto a home in the 1100 block of Beverly Way in Altadena. No injuries were reported.
In Pico Rivera, one person sustained a head injury when a tree fell on a home in the 7000 block of Rosemead Boulevard around 11:15 a.m., according the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
A high wind warning was in effect until 4 p.m. in many areas of the Southland thanks to a "strong to moderate" Santa Ana wind event, but the gusts began to diminish by late afternoon, and the warnings were reduced to less severe wind advisories, some of which will remain in place until Friday morning.