WEST COAST STORMS SURPRISE LOS ANGELES WITH...A TORNADO, CAPTURED ON VIDEO (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by STANews , Saturday, December 13, 2014, 15:46

Los Angeles (CNN) -- Just when you thought the nation's entertainment capital couldn't deliver a new surprise ending, a camera-wielding resident reveals how this week's Pacific storm sent Los Angeles a tornado.

The rare twister was captured on tape: roofs obliterated, shingles hurled like leaves, and the amateur videographer gasping in profane disbelief. Friday's melee even damaged the steel of a billboard.

"It was crazy. It was crazy," Jamie Mena told CNN affiliate KABC after shooting a video of bent-over palm trees and his rooftop flying off. "I am shaken up."

Before Friday, the last time a twister made big news in Los Angeles was 1983, slamming into the downtown Los Angeles Convention Center, though there have been a few tornadoes since then around the area.

"They are pretty rare, but not as rare as you might think, though," said National Weather Service meteorologist Scott Sukup of the Los Angeles-Oxnard office.

VIDEO AND MORE...

http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/13/us/california-storm/index.html?hpt=hp_t2