Paul Clinton Santa Ana winds ripped through...

Paul Clinton

Santa Ana winds ripped through Surf City Sunday and Monday,

uprooting large trees, knocking out power to homes and businesses and

causing other damage to public and private property.

“At 7 o’clock, I opened the door to get our paper and I was

shocked,” said Cecilia Sparks, who lives in the 6300 block of Athena

Avenue. “[A ficus tree] covered the entire street.”

Of the 20,000 Orange County residents and businesses who lost

their power Monday, many of the hardest hit were in Huntington Beach,

Santa Ana, Fullerton, Placentia, Tustin and Orange, a Southern

California Edison spokesman said.

“We’ve have more than 250,000 customers [in the Southland]

affected by the winds,” said Tom Boyd, Southern California Edison

spokesman.

With winds gusting at more than 94 miles per hour, many Surf City

residents woke up to find their homes enveloped in darkness.

About 2,000 customers in Huntington Beach lost power on Monday,

said Jerry Dominguez, Edison’s regional manager in Orange County.

Many areas around Marina High School were without power, with some

homes still in darkness well into the evening. Homes in the 18000

block of Delaware Street and on Misty Lane were without power for

much of Monday, Dominguez said. Power was restored after a long

24-hour period in darkness for the worst-hit homes.

Traffic lights were also dark on Bolsa Avenue from Heil Avenue

north, lengthening the morning commute for many.

The city’s Central Library, in Central Park, and two public works

yards, near the intersection of Gothard Street and Slater Avenue,

also lost power and phone services Monday morning, Public Works

Deputy Director Paul Emery said.

Power was restored by 11 a.m., Emery said.

In all, his department received more than 500 calls for service on

Monday morning. Many of those calls were for trees that had fallen on

sidewalks, streets and other public areas.

The winds whipped up again on Tuesday morning, Emery said.

“[On Tuesday], we got more than we asked for again,” Emery said.

A grass fire caused the outage at the library, Huntington Beach

Fire spokeswoman Birgit Davis said.

The city’s fire department responded to about 20 minor fires,

mostly caused by downed transformers and wires, on Monday, Davis

said.

“It was relatively busy, but harmless,” Davis said.

The behemoth ficus tree that once sprouted from the sidewalk in

front of Sparks’ Athena Avenue home had to be removed from the street

by a city crew.

The 40-foot tree’s roots tore out a 6-inch hole in the sidewalk.

Sparks said the tree had gotten to be a hazard, due to its large

canopy and bulging roots.

“I thought it was pretty, but not when it got to lifting up my

cement,” Sparks said. “It got to be dangerous.”

Sparks, who has lived in Huntington Beach for 29 years, said a

city crew quickly dismantled the tree with chainsaws, and by 2 p.m.

Monday, it was gone.

Other damage was not so quickly removed.

Reece Moneyhun, who lives near Edison Park, said he was troubled

to see a large eucalyptus tree where his cinderblock wall had been.

The tree had fallen from a neighbor’s yard, Moneyhun said.

“It’s just a big nuisance,” Moneyhun said. “The guy in the back is

probably more perturbed than I am because he has to pay to have it

removed.”

* PAUL CLINTON is a reporter with Times Community News. He

covers City Hall. He may be reached at (714) 965-7173 or by e-mail at

[email protected].