At the peak of its fury, Sunday’s windstorm tore limbs from trees, blocked streets, damaged vehicles and caused a brief power outage at 3,500 homes in Laguna Beach. No injuries were reported, police said.
Winds resumed Monday with midmorning gusts of 20 m.p.h.
Rain extinguished a fire sparked by a power surge to a transformer on Temple Hills Drive about 1 p.m., police Sgt. Tim Kleiser said Monday. The tree fell across wires, which prompted an outage repaired by Southern California Edison in a matter of hours.
The powerful windstorm, which began picking up speed by 10 a.m., hit its peak at 1:56 p.m. with gusts of 57 m.p.h. and sustained 13 m.p.h. wind speeds, according to the National Weather Service website.
About that time, a falling tree caused significant damage to a vehicle in the 200 block of Broadway Street, blocking traffic lanes. Another vehicle was damaged in the Well Fargo lot, struck by debris blown from a roof, Kleiser said.
High winds set off security alarms around the city, blew trash cans into roadways and knocked over potted plants.
The northwest winds and west swell pummeled beaches with high surf, further
clawing away sand from south-facing beaches, marine safety Lt. Kai Bond said. “A lot of the beaches are pretty cut up,” he said. Surf was from 4-6 feet and is supposed to subside slowly over the next few days.
Also Sunday, falling trees downed more power lines about 9:45 p.m. in the 2500 block of Laguna Canyon Road, which Edison repaired quickly, Kleiser said.
And at 10:40 p.m. the city’s public works department deployed to remove a tree blocking lanes in the 300 block of N. Coast Highway, he said.
