HEAVY WINDS DAMAGE CARS, MOBILE HOMES; TORNADO-LIKE STORM STRIKES AT NIGHT.

Byline: Stacy Brown Daily News Staff Writer

Residents at a Saugus mobile-home park were clearing debris and sorting through wreckage Thursday after what possibly was a tornado touched down overnight uprooting trees and causing a power outage.

``I have never seen anything like it,'' said Elaine Youngblood, who manages the Lily of the Valley Mobilehome Village with her husband, Richard.

``Things were flying all over the place, trees were lifted out of the ground, it was amazing.''

Glena Kristensen had been at work when the chaos began. Once she got home, her neighbors already were assessing damage.

``They said it happened at about 7:30 p.m. and when I arrived I saw everyone outside so I knew something was wrong,'' Kristensen said.

Sgt. Frank Brown of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said deputies received a call from the mobile-home park Wednesday night and a unit was dispatched.

``One of our deputies reported that there were some high winds and trees were uprooted,'' Brown said. ``The residents said it was a tornado.''

Bill Hoffer, a National Weather Service specialist, said officials were conducting an investigation into the weather pattern to determine if a tornado actually touched down in Saugus.

``It is a good possibility that this was a tornado,'' Hoffer said. ``There is a tremendous amount of instability in the air and the dynamics suggest this was a tornado and it could happen again.''

Hoffer said depending upon the strength of the wind and the topography of the land, the area could have been subjected to either a weak tornado or a strong down-burst of wind.

``A weak tornado usually has winds of about 70 mph and a strong down-burst can achieve comparative wind strength,'' Hoffer said.

The estimated damage to the mobile-home park was not available. However, several cars and roof awnings were damaged by uprooted trees.

One resident, Apolonio Murillo, who has lived at the park for nearly nine years, found his car covered with a tree after the storm ended late Wednesday.

``I watched from my window and the wind came in a circle real fast,'' said Murillo. ``It was weird, I hadn't seen anything like this since the earthquake.''

Power was restored early Thursday to many of the residents and several Southern California Gas Co. workers were at the park checking for leaks.

Wednesday's storm, which dropped 0.28 of an inch of rain on the Santa Clarita Valley, came as a surprise to many. After several days of 100-degree temperatures and above, a violent storm front swept through Los Angeles County.

The damage was not limited to the mobile homes as lightning hit down a tall Brazilian pepper tree at Sierra Vista Junior High School in Canyon Country and several traffic signals were short circuited in the area throughout the day, according to authorities.

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

PHOTO (1--Color) Southern California Edison workers check power lines downed by an unusual summer storm that hit Saugus late Wednesday.

(2--Color) Lily of the Valley Mobilehome Village resident Charles Perry surveys damage to his property caused by a possible tornado.

(3--Color) Workers remove trees felled at the Lily of the Valley Mobilehome Village by a storm that brought high winds late Wednesday.

Hans Gutknecht/Daily News