WINDS DISRUPT POWER FIERCE GUSTS TOPPLE LINES, CUT ELECTRICITY.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

PALMDALE - Gale-force winds on Monday collapsed a 200-foot steel pylon carrying a 500,000-volt power line, knocking out electricity for hours to more than 10,000 homes and businesses.

Accompanying the strongest storm in five years, the winds kicked up massive clouds of dust that snarled traffic but resulted in no major crashes. Gusts snapped dozens of power poles and trees, toppled fences and tore roofs off buildings.

``I've been here since 1962. It's only been a couple times it's blown like this. It was howling,'' said Jeff Foster, an assistant superintendent for the Antelope Valley Union High School District, which sent Quartz Hill High School students home early and had four buildings damaged by the wind.

Winds were measured at just 30 mph to 40 mph at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale and Fox Field in Lancaster, but officials said the gusts were much stronger in Palmdale and the Quartz Hill area, near the San Gabriel Mountains. The National Weather Service estimated the winds there at around 60 mph.

Many Palmdale Boulevard businesses between downtown and the Antelope Valley Freeway shut down and others operated in the dark because of the outage. Acton was blacked out as were parts of Quartz Hill, officials said.

Thousands of homes in Lancaster and other parts of the valley lost power to causes unrelated to the high-power line collapse.

``We've got railroad crossing arms down, trees blowing down, Edison power lines blowing down across vehicles, several accidents. Everything,'' said Palmdale sheriff's Deputy Daryl Bonsall.

The outage closed Palmdale's libraries, theater, senior center and other public offices, although City Hall stayed open on an electrical generator.

Southern California Edison officials were unable Monday afternoon to estimate when the power pylon on Edison's Midway Vincent No. 3 line, near 90th Street West and Avenue J, would be repaired, or when they would be able to reroute electricity onto other lines to restore power to all the blacked-out areas.

The pylon also carried 220,000-volt and 66,000-volt lines.

``We don't have any estimate on that. It's going to take quite a while to repair that tower and line,'' said Edison spokesman Paul Klein. The 500,000-volt line supplied other areas in Southern California, but Edison was able to reroute power so that only the Antelope Valley was affected.

So many utility poles snapped from the wind that Edison workers were not immediately sure which outages were due to the high-power line break.

In the midst of the windstorm, a sport utility vehicle and a sedan collided head-on on Avenue R near 25th Street East, seriously injuring three people. Blowing dust reduced visibility to near zero when sheriff's deputies and firefighters arrived and a broken power pole nearby complicated rescue efforts.

Bt the crash itself was not caused by the storm, officials said. The GMC Jimmy driver told deputies he fell asleep and crossed the center line, hitting a four-door Toyota.

Motorists avoided each other in the dust storms, which disappeared when heavy rain began falling.

``I think with the weather getting this bad, people actually get careful,'' said Deputy Rick Nolte in Lancaster.

Some 2,800 students at Quartz Hill High School were sent home just after 12:30 p.m. because of officials' concerns about falling utility poles and sparking transformers. Two dozen wooden utility poles snapped on Avenue L west of the school, though the school itself did not lose power.

``Almost every phone call I got was something new had snapped or broken,'' Foster said.

Next door to Quartz Hill High, the wind ripped large sections of roof off three modular buildings that house Desert Winds West Valley Continuation High School and the Desert Pathways and Quartz Hill independent study programs.

Quartz Hill High was expected to reopen today. Desert Winds West Valley, which has about 80 students, was expected to be closed today while workers clean up wind debris.

A microwave tower crashed through the roof of the high school district's Regional Occupational Program office in Palmdale. Workers quickly patched the hole. Juniper, Palm Tree and Tumbleweed schools in Palmdale lost power but kept classes in session.

``We're keeping all the kids indoors and releasing them at the normal times,'' Palmdale School District spokesman Isaac Barcelona said.

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3 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) A Southern California Edison crew surveys some of the 25 power poles that were damaged Monday by strong winds.

(2 -- 3 -- color) Winds gusting to 60 mph toppled high-power lines, above, in the Antelope Valley on Monday. At right, a pedestrian fights against the wind to cross a street. The storm was described as the strongest to hit the valley in the past five years.

Gene Blevins/Special to the Daily News