Heavy Winds Pummel Baldwin Park

LOS ANGELES, CA — Cold, windy conditions persisted across the Southland early Tuesday, toppling trees, kicking up dust storms, knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes in Los Angeles County and bringing the first snowfall of the season to Big Bear.

In Lancaster, the wind caused a dust storm that shut down Highway 14 and Route 138 on Monday.

The worst of the wind passed Monday, and crews spent Tuesday morning clearing toppled trees and repairing power lines downed by falling tree branches.

The National Weather Service warned of winds of 20 to 30 miles per hour, with gusts to 45, in the L.A. Mountains Tuesday. Though Monday’s wind advisories expired for the L.A. coast, downtown L.A. and the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, breezy conditions were expected to remain as a storm system moves out of the area.

Trees across the county were toppled in the overnight windstorm, falling on cars in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley.

In Van Nuys, a car fell on an SUV being driven by Lorena Lopez with children aboard.

“I was happy, obviously, nothing happened to them,” Lopez told KTLA.

More than 30,000 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers lost power amid Monday’s wind storm though most had their electricity back by Tuesday morning. Windy conditions continue to wreak havoc across parts of the state, prompting Southern California Edison to warn that more than 9,000 customers in Los Angeles and surrounding counties could have to endure intentional power outages this week. According to the utility giant, the outages would mostly impact customers near Santa Clarita and Simi Valley.

Further north, Pacific Gas and Electric already began cutting power to customers as a precaution
More cool temperatures were expected to persist in the Los Angeles area through the end of the week, with highs Tuesday in the mid-60s to lower 70s and winds still in the 15- to 25-mph range.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.