Powerful winds wreak havoc across Los Angeles

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Powerful winds wreaked havoc across Los Angeles on Thursday, fanning brush fires near one of the city's most exclusive neighborhoods and knocking out power to thousands of homes, officials said.

One multi-million dollar home was completely gutted and three more suffered damage, one severely, after a wind-whipped fire erupted near Beverly Hills, fire officials said, while around 76,000 households suffered power cuts.

The fire tore through around 35 acres (14 hectares) of tinder-dry brush, driven by winds in excess of 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Ron Myers told local broadcaster KCAL 9.

Television footage showed one large house in the upscale Beverly Glen district next to Beverly Hills completely destroyed by the blaze, which broke out at around 1:00 pm local time (2000 GMT).

"We have two homes with serious damage while two more have suffered what looks like roof damage at this stage," Myers said.

Around 200 firefighters had been deployed to tackle the fire, with aerial support from helicopters which dumped water on the flames.

There were no immediate reports of any injuries.

Meanwhile local power companies said thousands of homes had suffered outages because of the winds, which also toppled several large trees across Los Angeles and shrouded the city's downtown skyline in clouds of dust.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said around 63,000 customers across the city were without power, while Southern California Edison officials put their figure at around 13,000.

"Most are due to the wind," LADWP spokeswoman Gale Harris said.