Nightly News   |  December 02, 2011

Wild winds cause millions of dollars in damage

Tens of thousands of homes and businesses remained without power for a second day on Friday after powerful winds toppled trees and power lines and left debris across a wide swath of Southern California. NBC’s Miguel Almaguer reports.

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This content comes from a Full-Text Transcript of the program.

BRIAN WILLIAMS, anchor: We're getting more information tonight on that major windstorm that hit the Southwest yesterday, and the numbers are pretty staggering. Look at what this storm did out West . Wind gusts of more than 120 were clocked in the Colorado Rockies , near 100 in New Mexico , Utah and Nevada . And at California 's Mammoth Mountain , peak gusts pegged the needle at 150 miles an hour and it doesn't go any higher. We haven't seen anything this intense out there in decades. NBC 's Miguel Almaguer reports tonight on the aftermath.

MIGUEL ALMAGUER reporting: In Pasadena, California ...

Unidentified Man #1: Very dangerous. This property will be taped.

ALMAGUER: ...building inspectors told the Flores family they couldn't come home.

Ms. HEATHER FLORES (Pasadena Resident): I don't understand how any of us made it out and the fact that my kids were in that room.

ALMAGUER: Their house on Cedar Street was sliced into two by a 50-foot Ash .

Ms. FLORES: Everything we've had for 15 years is gone.

ALMAGUER: Across Southern California a path of destruction, a state of emergency. For a second day, schools are closed and so are many roads. Santa Ana winds ripped Los Angeles County cities apart. Power poles toppled like dominoes in wind gusts just shy of 100 miles an hour.

Unidentified Man #2: Once one went, they all went khhhr, khhhr, khhhr.

ALMAGUER: A quarter of a million homes and businesses still without power, some getting ready to spend their third night in the dark. The LA Fire Department responded to 2100 calls in 24 hours.

Mayor ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA (Los Angeles): This is one of the worst windstorms in a generation. The good news is that nobody was injured and no one was killed.

ALMAGUER: Forecasters say the worst of the storm here in California is likely behind us, but six other states are in a winter storm warning . On I-15 , California 's road to Vegas , trucks toppled like toys. In parts of New Mexico , the power is out and a new storm is approaching. In Arizona , snow is on the desert floor. A wicked winter storm packing a powerful punch and now moving east. Miguel Almaguer, NBC News, Pasadena.