HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE >> Just after noon on Tuesday, a pine tree fell through a power line on Hidden Valley Road in Hidden Valley Lake, causing about 695 customers to lose power for a couple of hours and damaging the line and multiple poles.
Some had anticipated an outage of up to four hours.
PG&E troublemen, or first-responders, converged on the trouble spot initially and repair crews followed shortly after, according to PG&E spokesperson Brittany McKannay. No fires or traffic impacts were reported. However, customers without power converged on restaurants in Middletown to wait out the issue. At Buddha Thai Kitchen, lunch staff scrambled to serve a dining room that was full until 2 p.m. as a result of the outage.
As of press time, 20 PG&E customers were still without power and PG&E crews expected to work into the evening to make necessary repairs to the power line and poles, McKannay said.
PG&E is still investigating what caused the tree to fall but its first priority is returning power to the 20 customers, McKannay said.
As the area enters into the rainy season, PG&E has stepped up its visual surveys of its lines to ensure vegetation won”t cause problems in the intensified weather.
McKannay reminds the public that if someone sees a downed wire, they should assume the line is energized and immediately contact 911.
