DJ Paul's Arm
Veteran
All you Yay Area folks strapped up?
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shut off power to more than 141,000 Bay Area customers before dawn Wednesday in the first of an expected wave of blackouts intended to avert a destructive wildfire like those that took dozens of lives and destroyed thousands of homes over the past two years.
Sonoma County was hit hardest by the first preemptive cuts, with 67,000 residences and businesses losing power, according to a PG&E spokeswoman. In Napa County, 32,750 customers lost power, while Solano County cuts totaled 31,630. Marin County outages stood at 10,183.
The utility has said it will shut off power to 800,000 customers in Northern and Central California in waves, beginning with the northernmost areas and moving south, with an estimated 2.4 million people affected.
The blackouts were expected to strike the remainder of the Bay Area — all counties but San Francisco — starting around noon. Alameda County officials said the process could last until 5 p.m. The blackouts could last up to five days for some customers as PG&E checks lines before restoring power.
As the deadline of a looming shut-off approached Wednesday morning, Caltrans officials announced that they had successful installed emergency generators to keep the busy Caldecott Tunnel on Highway 24 in the East Bay. Late Tuesday the agency had warned the critical piece of transportation infrastructure was not prepared for an outage and would close.
Photo: Talia Herman
Food that was arrived at midnight to be sold today spoils during a power outage at a 7-11, Santa Rosa, California, October 9th, 2019.
As residents in the North Bay awoke to blackouts, furious politicians lambasted PG&E’s management and questioned why such a large swath of the state was included in the shutoff area.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who has proposed legislation to limit power shutoffs, tweeted Tuesday night that the outages represent a “completely unacceptable state of affairs.”
“We can’t let PG&E normalize these mass blackouts,” he wrote.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, was similarly critical. His sprawling North Coast district runs from Marin County to the Oregon border and has been hit by bad fires before, and he said Wednesday morning that he understands the need to prevent similar disasters.
But “when this is over we must know why PG&E cast such a broad net,” Huffman wrote on social media. “Widescale shutdowns are not a sustainable solution.”
Meanwhile, residents across the region scrambled to prepare for what officials said could be a week without electricity.
Ice, gas and patience were already in short supply among residents in North Bay counties.
Shut-offs begin: First wave of PG&E blackouts hits 141,000 customers in northern Bay Area
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. shut off power to more than 141,000 Bay Area customers before dawn Wednesday in the first of an expected wave of blackouts intended to avert a destructive wildfire like those that took dozens of lives and destroyed thousands of homes over the past two years.
Sonoma County was hit hardest by the first preemptive cuts, with 67,000 residences and businesses losing power, according to a PG&E spokeswoman. In Napa County, 32,750 customers lost power, while Solano County cuts totaled 31,630. Marin County outages stood at 10,183.
The utility has said it will shut off power to 800,000 customers in Northern and Central California in waves, beginning with the northernmost areas and moving south, with an estimated 2.4 million people affected.
The blackouts were expected to strike the remainder of the Bay Area — all counties but San Francisco — starting around noon. Alameda County officials said the process could last until 5 p.m. The blackouts could last up to five days for some customers as PG&E checks lines before restoring power.
As the deadline of a looming shut-off approached Wednesday morning, Caltrans officials announced that they had successful installed emergency generators to keep the busy Caldecott Tunnel on Highway 24 in the East Bay. Late Tuesday the agency had warned the critical piece of transportation infrastructure was not prepared for an outage and would close.
Photo: Talia Herman
Food that was arrived at midnight to be sold today spoils during a power outage at a 7-11, Santa Rosa, California, October 9th, 2019.
As residents in the North Bay awoke to blackouts, furious politicians lambasted PG&E’s management and questioned why such a large swath of the state was included in the shutoff area.
State Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, who has proposed legislation to limit power shutoffs, tweeted Tuesday night that the outages represent a “completely unacceptable state of affairs.”
“We can’t let PG&E normalize these mass blackouts,” he wrote.
Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, was similarly critical. His sprawling North Coast district runs from Marin County to the Oregon border and has been hit by bad fires before, and he said Wednesday morning that he understands the need to prevent similar disasters.
But “when this is over we must know why PG&E cast such a broad net,” Huffman wrote on social media. “Widescale shutdowns are not a sustainable solution.”
Meanwhile, residents across the region scrambled to prepare for what officials said could be a week without electricity.
Ice, gas and patience were already in short supply among residents in North Bay counties.
Shut-offs begin: First wave of PG&E blackouts hits 141,000 customers in northern Bay Area
let me guess cac areas still got power tho..