Southern California’s Santa Ana winds topple trees, big rigs

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Powerful Santa Ana winds across Southern California were clocked as high as 112 mph, toppling trees, prompting the closure of San Diego’s iconic Balboa Park after a woman was briefly pinned by a eucalyptus, and blowing over big rigs on several highways. The National Weather Service says top gusts Thursday hit 112 mph in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Los Angeles and more than 90 mph near Julian in the San Diego County mountains and near Banning Pass in Riverside County. In eastern San Diego County, the California Highway Patrol has directed high-profile vehicles off Interstate 8. The San Diego Union-Tribune reports a woman was injured when a towering eucalyptus tree fell in San Diego’s Balboa Park.