Second Wave Of PG&E Power Shutdowns Hits Bay Area

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — More than 500,000 customers were without power Wednesday morning as Pacific Gas and Electric Company started its Public Safety Power Shutoffs in California. Additional shutoffs initially expected to start at noon were delayed until about 10:45 p.m. due to changes in the weather patterns, according to PG&E.

PG&E began implementing the preemptive power shutdowns just after midnight in an effort to avoid sparking a wildfire during extreme weather and fire conditions. Nearly 800,000 customers in Northern and Central California were expected to be affected by the shutoffs.

“The safety of our customers and the communities we serve is our most important responsibility, which is why PG&E has decided to turn power off to customers during this widespread, severe wind event,” said Michael Lewis, PG&E’s senior vice president of electric operations.

“We understand the effects this event will have on our customers and appreciate the public’s patience as we do what is necessary to keep our communities safe and reduce the risk of wildfire.”

PG&E shut off power to roughly 513,000 customers shortly after midnight Wednesday. Customers were impacted in Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Marin, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba counties.

The first phase was almost complete by around noon Wednesday, so anyone living in nearly any of the impacted counties who still have power can expect to keep it, according to PG&E. The exceptions are Mendocino and Calaveras counties. About 21,000 in Calaveras and 800 customers in Mendocino were not part of the first phase and will be turned off during the second phase.

The second phase of the shutoff was initially scheduled around noon but was delayed for more than ten hours due to changes to the weather forecast, according to PG&E. The second phase impacts service for about 234,000 customers in Alameda, Alpine, Calaveras, Contra Costa, Mariposa, Mendocino, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties.

According to PG&E’s outage website, the new round of outages further south in the San Francisco Bay Area began around 10:45 p.m., with customers in locations affected as far north as Pinole (2,372 customers), as far west as Half Moon Bay (12,491), as far south as Morgan Hill (6,459) and communities near Watsonville (La Selva Beach – 626) and as far east as an area just south of Livermore (63 customers) and Walnut Creek (2,643) as of 1:30 a.m.

Among the bigger cities and communities affected in the immediate Bay Area by the shutdown: Berkeley (3,537 customers), Oakland (13,365), San Jose (4,295) and Castro Valley (6,144). San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo tweeted early Thursday that approximately 15,000 homes in Almaden and Evergreen neighborhoods were without power.

South of the Bay in the Santa Cruz County area, the major locales of Santa Cruz (3,793 customers), Scotts Valley (8,694) and Aptos (7,356) have also seen major outages during the second phase.

A third phase was being considered for the southernmost portions of PG&E’s service area and would impact roughly 42,000 customers, according to PG&E. Specific locations have not yet been determined.

Outages could last longer than 48 hours, according to PG&E. PG&E said those with solar will still be affected.

“When PG&E restores power, rooftop solar systems should re-engage automatically,” PG&E officials said in a statement. “Solar systems cannot be powered off a generator as the two technologies do not work together. Customers who have a home battery system paired with their solar system may generally have up to two hours of backup power, depending on the size of
their battery.”

Many schools in the Bay Area have been canceled as a result of the outage. The University of California at Berkeley and Evergreen Valley College in the southeast San Jose foothills confirmed they will be closed on Thursday.

Sumeet Singh, a PG&E vice president, said the inclement weather prompting the outages is expected to subside around noon Thursday. Inspections could begin then on the utility’s transmission and distribution lines and equipment.

Once inspections start, “It could be several days to restore power,” Singh said.

The utility has 45 helicopter crews that are ready to do inspections and 6,300 qualified personnel on the ground, according to Singh.

Safety Resources

PG&E offered the following preparedness tips to customers:

PG&E is opening community resource centers in a variety of locations to support customers in the affected areas. Here is a list of locations:

Strong winds, low humidity and warm temperatures prompted the National Weather Service to issue a red flag warning for much of the San Francisco Bay Area and elsewhere in Northern California.

The red flag warning will be in effect from 5 a.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday for the East and North Bay hills and valleys, and from 5 p.m. Wednesday to noon Thursday for the Santa Cruz mountains, according to the National Weather Service.

Cal Fire has stepped up its staffing statewide due to the red flag conditions and power shutoffs.

“We have increased our staffing, but need the public to remain vigilant,” Cal Fire Director Thom Porter said. “It is important to follow evacuation orders and leave early as fires move very fast under these conditions.”

The State Reacts

Across the state, residents have taken to social media to express frustration with PG&E amid shutoff delays and frequent website crashes.

PG&E is in the middle of an expensive propaganda campaign to warn people they will be shutting down power when there is fire danger for up to a week at a time. The decent thing to do would be to repair faulty electric lines to reduce the danger. #PGEpowershutdown
— roseannetsulliv (@roseannetsulliv) October 9, 2019

Yeah you are… #PGEpowershutdown pic.twitter.com/3OzWyJKesW
— Daniel (@bigchimpn) October 9, 2019

One PG&E employee was shot at while driving in Colusa County Tuesday evening, KTVU reported. The employee was not injured, but suspected that he had been targeted for driving in a marked PG&E vehicle.

At PG&E’s headquarters in San Francisco Wednesday afternoon, workers were spotted setting up plastic barricades in front of the building entrance.

PG&E put up barricades at SF HQ. pic.twitter.com/MLGVVJ0QmI
— Christien Kafton (@CKaftonKTVU) October 9, 2019

Transportation and Traffic

Bay Area Rapid Transit service should not be affected during the shutoff, according to the transit agency. BART officials said they have the ability to pull power from other sections of its traction power supply system to replace any power lost in the shutoff event.

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit trains will operate on the normal train schedule during the shutoff event and stations without power will remain open. SMART officials, however, said passengers should be prepared for delays.

The Caldecott Tunnel, a highway tunnel through the Berkeley Hills between Oakland and Orinda, will remain open during the shutoff event. The Tom Lantos Tunnel near Pacifica is also set to remain open. PG&E provided generators to Caltrans in order to keep both tunnels open.

San Mateo County officials warned Peninsula residents that a low-flying helicopter may be spotted overhead once power restoration begins, inspecting the power lines that had been shut off.

The California Highway Patrol shared safety tips for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in areas without power.

Related:

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.

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