Several trees and power lines came crashing down as strong winds hit parts of Southern California Monday and left thousands without power.
One driver in South Los Angeles had to be rescued after a tree fell on top of a car on South Broadway near West Adams Boulevard and trapped the driver inside at about 7:30 a.m.
Los Angeles City Fire Department crews managed to get the driver out and transport them to a local hospital in unknown condition.
Aerial video from Sky5 showed a number of toppled trees around Los Angeles as well as some downed power lines, which fell near the intersection of Fountain Avenue and North Normandie Avenue in East Hollywood.
Nearly 5,700 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers were without power as of 4:30 p.m. due to problems caused by the winds, the utility stated in a news release. The majority of those affected were in Koreatown.
Crews had restored power to more than 28,900 LADWP customers since the outages began early Monday morning.
The strong northwest gusts were pounding the area Monday in the wake of a passing cold front, according to the National Weather Service.
Trees that have been weakened and diseased by the regions drought conditions are in danger of being uprooted by the wind, the weather service reported.
Gusts between 45 and 60 mph were expected for the Santa Barbara South Coast, San Fernando Valley, San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles County Coast.
The strongest winds were likely to blow across the mountains, Antelope Valley, Santa Clarita Valley and Ventura County interior valleys, where gusts of 60 to 70 mph are expected. Some gusts could top 80 mph, according to the weather service.
High wind warnings were issued through Monday afternoon for areas of Los Angeles and Ventura County, as well as parts of the Inland Empire.
The winds are expected to shift late Monday night as the low pressure moves out of the region. This should result in the return of Santa Ana winds and warmer temperatures on Tuesday.
