PG&E: Storm declared worst in 30 years for power outages
(KRON) — Last weekend’s winter storm is now the worst largest single storm for PG&E outages in 30 years, the gas and electric utility company said Wednesday.
Storm damages triggered outages for more than 1.4 million PG&E customers system-wide, from Eureka to the north and Bakersfield to the south, according to PG&E spokesperson Fiona Chan.
“High gusts and strong sustained winds have caused an incredible amount of damage across our service area, including breaking or toppling 728 poles, requiring us to restring or repair more than 2,000 spans of powerlines and damaging or destroying 357 crossarm and 247 transformers,” Chan wrote.
PG&E said it has 5,000 employees and contractors on storm duty working to restore power.
“We’ve restored more than 1.3 million customers since the storm started, and our focus remains on those without power. We will work around the clock until we bring the lights back on for everyone,” a PG&E spokesperson wrote Wednesday.
Sunday’s atmospheric river unleashed hurricane-force wind gusts across the Bay Area, including 100 mph gusts recorded at Pablo Point in Marin County. Wind-whipped trees ripped down powerlines in many areas.
Photos: Dramatic February storm impacts across California
After the brunt of Sunday’s storm finally ended, a staggering 235,000 PG&E customers in the Bay Area were without power at 5 a.m. Monday.
Monday, February 5, 5 a.m. | Affected Customers |
San Francisco | 4,791 |
Peninsula | 56,604 |
North Bay | 72,829 |
East Bay | 28,717 |
South Bay | 72,466 |
Total | 235,407 |
The largest PG&E outages lingering from Sunday’s storm on Wednesday are in the North Bay, where nearly 17,000 customers are impacted, and the South Bay, where more than 7,226 are in the dark.
Below are the latest Bay Area outage numbers:
Wednesday, February 7, 12 p.m. | Affected Customers |
San Francisco | 127 |
Peninsula | 4,028 |
North Bay | 16,849 |
East Bay | 328 |
South Bay | 7,226 |
Total | 28,558 |
Thousands of residents in Sebastopol are on their fourth day straight of power outages with no heat, warm water, or electricity on Wednesday. Crews are still working on repairing widespread storm damages.
Sebastopol resident Steve Rossi said, “Power went out Sunday afternoon. It’s tough … very hard. There was a tree down in my neighborhood. I look on the PG&E website and it says ‘to be determined.'”
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