Santa Ana winds whip Southern California

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- A California windstorm uprooted trees, snarled traffic and played Grinch for an annual Christmas tree decorating event, officials said Thursday.

Officials said workers struggled to restore power to 340,000 homes while roads remained closed because of fallen trees and traffic flows were in shambles because of broken signals, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Authorities said about half of South Pasadena was without water Thursday morning because an electrical pump from the city's reservoirs failed due to the power outage

The Santa Ana winds felled trees on Christmas Tree Lane in Altadena where for more than 80 years the cedars have been strung with 10,000 lights for the holiday season. Lights had been strung in advance of the lighting ceremony Dec. 10, said Maureen Ward, president of the Christmas Tree Lane Association.

The National Weather Service said the storm produced gusts of 60 mph to 80 mph. The peak gust was 97 mph, reported Wednesday night at Whitaker Peak.

Hardest hit were Pasadena, Sierra Madre and other foothills communities of the San Gabriel Valley.

Pasadena fire and police officials said "throughout the entire 26 square miles of the city, streets are littered with trees and tree limbs, downed power lines and wires," Pasadena City Manager Michael Beck told the Times. "Pasadena seemed to be the epicenter."

Pacific Gas & Electric spokeswoman Monica Tell said the high winds sometimes made it difficult to restore power, the San Francisco Chronicle said.

"It's making it a bit of a tough situation to go in and restore in some of these areas," Tell said. "Our goal at this point is to get the majority of our customers in the Central Coast area restored in the next 48 hours."

The Santa Ana winds also fueled several fires and forced delays at Los Angeles International Airport, authorities said.

"We probably have over 100 trees that are down and arcing wires and transformers that have blown," Pasadena police Lt. Jari Faulkner told the Los Angeles Times.

An AccuWeather.com meteorologist described it as a "once-a-decade-type windstorm."

Gas pumps at a Shell gas station in Pasadena crumpled when a large tree fell and a two-acre grass fire caused by downed power lines at Occidental College took nearly two hours to put out.

The winds caused havoc Wednesday night at the airport, which lost power for a time. Ian Gregor, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration, said gusts were 40 knots or more, creating dangerous crosswinds as pilots attempted to land.

Two runways were temporarily closed because of debris Wednesday night, Gregor said.

High winds were expected Thursday in San Francisco, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City and far western Arizona, AccuWeather.com said.