BLOWIN' IN THE WIND GUSTS CAUSE TRAVEL MAYHEM, OUTAGES, FIRE THREAT.

Byline: Josh Kleinbaum and Susan Abram Staff Writers

Fierce winds raked the San Fernando Valley on Monday - fanning fires, knocking out power and disrupting airline traffic - and the strong Santa Anas are forecast to continue today.

A high-wind warning will be in effect, along with a red-flag alert warning of high fire danger.

Motorists filling up their gas tanks at a station on Oxnard Street and Canoga Avenue in Woodland Hills said the high winds, which gusted up to 60 mph in some areas, caused a number of headaches.

Michael Dellatorre, who sets up film equipment for commercials, said the strong winds over the past two days have made work a challenge.

``We were just limited all day to what we could put up,'' said the 26-year-old from Whittier. ``It's been a long day.''

Isaiah Rodriguez, 20, said winds interrupted his favorite after-work activity.

``It did bother me,'' he said. ``I'm into basketball and I couldn't play my sport today.''

A predawn fire destroyed a home in Tujunga and damaged several others, and 15 homes were evacuated in La Caada Flintridge, where firefighters battled an eight-acre blaze. Another home in Northridge was damaged in a separate fire.

More than 20,000 Department of Water and Power customers in Tujunga, Sun Valley, Sylmar, Mission Hills and Granada Hills lost power Sunday night or Monday, and nearly 6,300 remained without power late Monday afternoon, DWP spokeswoman Carol Tucker said.

The northeast San Fernando Valley took the brunt of the wind's attack.

``That's where the canyons are, closer to the mountains and the foothills, and that's where we've been experiencing the most wind,'' Tucker said.

Gusty winds were blamed for a big-rig crash on the truck bypass of the southbound Golden State Freeway, just north of the Foothill Freeway, according to the California Highway Patrol. It was one of at least four big rigs to roll over on highways during Monday's gusts.

But no one was hurt when the big rig overturned just after 5 p.m., the CHP reported.

Throughout Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, 110,000 Southern California Edison customers lost power. About 15,000 of them were still without power late Monday. About 2,000 Glendale Water and Power customers lost power, but all were restored by Monday morning, officials said.

A red flag warning, denoting a high risk of wildfire resulting from high winds combined with low humidity, was issued by the National Weather Service, which said it would remain in force until 6 p.m. today.

The fire danger in the Angeles National Forest was raised from ``moderate'' to ``very high'' Monday afternoon due to red-flag conditions caused by strong Santa Ana winds combined with low humidity, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The gusts made a mess of local airplane travel, especially at Bob Hope Airport. More than a dozen inbound flights were diverted to other airports - and with inbound flights diverted, outbound flights had to be canceled. JetBlue, Southwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines were all affected.

Planes were diverted to Long Beach and San Diego, and passengers were taken by bus back to Burbank.

``It ruined my day,'' said Christina Hacopian of Studio City, who took a bus from San Diego to Burbank after her Oakland-to-Burbank flight was diverted. ``When we were driving on the bus, we kept saying that we better see trees blowing across the streets and cars blown over - something spectacular.''

City News Service contributed to this report.

Josh Kleinbaum, [phone]

josh.kleinbaum(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Firefighters approach an overturned big rig on the eastbound 118 interchange to the Foothill Freeway on Monday. Wind gusts of up to 60 mph were thought to have been factors in at least four such incidents throughout the day, while air travel was suspended at Burbank's Bob Hope Airport.

(2) Stranded passenger Karen Dyer finds a seat in a luggage cart at Burbank's Bob Hope Airport while waiting for a transfer to LAX. High winds of up to 60 mph saw flights canceled at Burbank.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News

(3) A cat looks through what's left of a house that caught fire early Monday in Tujunga.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer