Gusty Santa Ana winds battered Burbank Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, felling several trees and causing power outages throughout the city.
The National Weather Service reported high winds of 25 to 40 mph Thursday, gusting up to 55 mph in the foothills.
“Winds this strong may down trees and power lines, causing property damage or power outages,” according to the NWS.
The winds also took down traffic signals and at least one streetlight, according to Burbank Police officials.
“Luckily, there were no injuries,” said police. “Burbank Police [responded] to several calls for service related to the winds [Thursday] morning, including downed trees, debris in the roadways and power outages affecting traffic signals.”
The winds picked up dramatically in many areas overnight, causing several downed trees on residential streets. One tree came down over a home in the 2800 block of Victory Boulevard, another large tree fell into the street on South Beachwood Drive in the Rancho neighborhood, and a third was leveled near Chandler Boulevard.
“Luckily it didn’t fall on my parents’ home or their car which is usually parked underneath,” said Muneeza Ayaz, a Burbank resident. “A ticket was created months ago with the city of Burbank to have it cut as it was diseased. No one showed up, so God took care of it instead.”
Given the amount of rain that has fallen the last couple months there is certainly a higher than usual risk of falling trees with these wind speeds, NWS forecasters said, adding that the unsettled weather is being accompanied by particularly cold air, meaning the Southland did not see the warm temperatures that typically come with a Santa Ana wind event.
Temperatures are expected to be warmer this weekend, with highs reaching the upper 70s and low 80s by Monday and Tuesday, forecasters said.
— City News Service contributed to this report.
First published in the March 16 print issue of the Burbank Leader.
