High winds: L.A. mayor surveys damage after storm

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Friday that despite harsh winds that downed scores of trees and cut off power to hundreds of thousands, no one had been seriously injured by the storms.

“This is one of the worst windstorms in a generation,” Villaraigosa said at a news conference in Griffith Park. “The good news is that no one was injured and no one was killed,” he said.

Villaraigosa said 94,000 of the Department of Water and Power’s 1.4 million customers were still without power, and he expected them all to be fixed in one to two days. Some 122,000 customers have already had their power restored, he said.

Photo Gallery: Santa Ana winds wreak havoc across Southern California

Jon Kirk Mukri, head of the Department of Recreation and Parks, said crews were helping clear up major roadways in parks, keeping a special eye out for hanging branches that could fall on equestrian or hiking trails.

Officials said other work crews had fanned out across the city, clearing debris and working to restore power to traffic lights, among other repairs. Villaraigosa did not have an exact price tag for the cost of damage and repair efforts, but estimated it would be in the millions.

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-- Ari Bloomekatz in Griffith Park

Photo: Charius Holland, 9, and Kevin Scott, 13, look Thursday at a van damaged by a huge tree that fell on it Highland Park. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times.