Glendale College was subject to the strongest Santa Ana winds in 10 years, leaving the campus in a state of disarray last week as debris and damages surrounded the campus.
The Santa Ana winds are strong, dry winds that hit Southern California every year during late fall into the onset of winter. According to the Los Angeles Times, the winds reached speeds of 80 to 100 mph.
The winds blew a canopy off the Human Resources building and banners from Plaza Vaquero on Thursday. The campus was strewn with debris from fliers and leaves blown around by the winds. No buildings were damaged.
The campus experienced lost power at the time of the winds, said maintenance and operations manager Dan Padilla. The Administration, Auditorium, Camino Real and Cimmarusti Science buildings were still without power early Thursday.
“For some of us, this is going to be a bad hair day,” said Padilla in an email.
Trees were knocked over by the Mountain Street side of campus and by the parking structure. Some of them remained on Saturday.
The sports facilities also experienced light damages, with debris and equipment displaced by the winds. Chairs and trash bins were flung by the winds at the tennis courts, and a few of the tarps on the court’s chain link fences were unhinged.
Most of the debris around Plaza Vaquero and the student loading area was cleaned up by Saturday. A few piles remained around the San Gabriel Plaza, and substantial amounts of debris remained in front of the Administration building, along the outskirts of the sports facilities and the Mountain Street side of the campus.
Classes were still in session Thursday, despite the closing of some schools in the Glendale Unified School District. Pasadena City College canceled classes on Thursday as well, having been hit more severely than GCC.
Damages outside of campus included a knocked-over fence in the Verdugo Apartments that was still unrepaired on Sunday. The Civic Auditorium had a large tree uprooted by the winds in the parking lot, which still remained on Sunday.
