WIND WATCH: December Roars In Like a Lion

The Nusbaums had a startling wake-up call.

Overnight winds, reportedly topping 100 miles per hour, whipped through La Verne last night uprooting trees, snapping tree limbs, tipping telephone poles and causing a widespread community clean-up that continues at this hour.

Of the more than 100 calls that came into the city last night, a handful dealt with trees that had fallen onto La Verne residents’ roofs, patios and cars. No injuries were reported.

Despite early estimates of the damage that extended from the northeast corner of the city to the southwest corner, La Verne Public Director Dan Keesey said the losses could have been far worse.

“We just recently had our contractor come through here, West Coast Arborists, and they did a significant amount of trimming, especially through the southern part of town where the majority of our trees are. They just finished the work.

“If we didn’t have that done, I think we would have lost another 50 trees.”

City crews starting hitting the streets about 2 a.m., assessing damage and providing traffic control. All divisions within the Public Works Department, including Water, Parks, and Streets, participated in the effort.

“Our goal this morning was to have roads opened and passable,” Keesey added.

Baseline Ave. in La Verne looked slighly askew.

Keesey had no estimate on the city’s clean-up costs. The storm also knocked out power in different sections of the city, sending early risers to Starbucks and other local eateries to conduct their business and wait for their power to be restored.

Dean and Danielle Nusbaum were in bed when a tree fell on the rear of their White Avenue home about 3 a.m. “We didn’t even hear it,” said Dean.

“We heard something hit, but it wasn’t a big startling crash or anything,” Danielle said.

The La Verne Fire Department was the first to knock on their door and share what happened.

Down the street from them, Dave and Linda Dufresne awoke to find one of the cars in their driveway buried under a tree limb. Damage was minor, however.

“We should be able to buff out the scratches,” Dave said, as other curious neighbors looked on.

A tree, in all its golden glory, was uprooted on Logan Ave.

More than just blow down trees and knocking over fences, the wind also rattled a lot of nerves.”

“We didn’t sleep a wink,” said La Verne resident Andy Hakopian, holing up at the D Street Starbucks until the power at his home could be turned back on.

Stay tuned to La Verne Online. Later, we’ll have video footage of what the overnight windstorm left in its wake.