Gusty winds leave damage in Palm Springs

Strong winds pummeled through Horizon Mobile Village in the south end of Palm Springs. Gusty winds ripped off carports, awnings and the cover to a large shuffleboard area.

“Half of his entire porch went straight up in the air, went behind our RV and landed on the neighbor’s home,” Horizon Mobile Village resident Terry Gabriel said. “It didn’t damage our truck or RV in any way but I mean it’s just amazing what happened with just one puff of wind.”

Residents said one woman was injured from the windy conditions.

Almost 200 homes in the area were without power after a transformer was hit with debris causing it to blow out.

“[There was] a lot of debris, a lot of trees flying through. Residents were wondering when their power will be back on. Everybody was concerned about that and again we were concerned with the elderly making sure they are all OK too,” said Kurt Rundle Horizon Mobile Village’s Maintenance Manager.

Closer to Downtown Palm Springs, one home had its roof shredded by extremely gusty winds.

“Looking out the front window I noticed the neighbor’s house was starting to give a little bit. I walked outside with my phone and my dad said ‘hey, I think that roof is going to go’ and sure enough right on cue it just started peeling back piece by piece,” Steve Naylor said.

At the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, more than 300 people were at the top of the mountain trying to make it back down.

Passengers said at one point the tram didn’t move for almost five minutes.

“It was scary. We did have to stop for a second where we were just stuck for about five minutes or so and that was a little worrisome and it was really slow,” Tayler Pecha said.

“Whoa. It was exciting and it was scary but you get such a great view. A lot of people were nervous because it got stuck halfway but it was great. It was exciting,” Lee Lovitt said.

Rundle said residents at Horizon Mobile Village regained power at about 8:30 p.m.