SAN FRANCISCO – Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) has been monitoring weather forecasts hourly and has determined a second power shutoff is necessary for approximately 48,200 customers in the North Bay and Sierra Foothill regions due to ongoing hot, dry and windy weather conditions, but Lake County was not included in the list of areas which would be affected according to information distributed Tuesday by the embattled utility.
For this second shut-off event, based on elevated weather conditions, including potential fire risk, PG&E will be turning off the power for safety at approximately 2:30 a.m. in the Sierra Foothills, and in the North Bay at approximately 4:30 a.m., both Wednesday. Windy weather conditions are expected to last until 12 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 25.
According to information released by PG&E, Wednesday’s depowering event will include 48,200 customers in portions of seven counties: Butte, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sonoma and Yuba.
Based on PG&E’s established protocols and procedures, PG&E initiated a power shutoff on Monday, Sept. 23 at 5 p.m. impacting approximately 24,000 customers. Essentially all customers included in Monday’s shutoff event were restored today, Tuesday, Sept. 24, as of 6 p.m. During the inspection process, four incidents of weather-related equipment damage were identified.
Additionally, according to officials, hundreds of PG&E personnel and aerial resources are standing by and ready to respond for inspections, repairs and restoration once the weather subsides. Those crews conducted safety patrols today following Monday’s shut off and have restored power to essentially all customers impacted by the first event.
After the dry and windy weather has passed and it is safe to do so, PG&E crews will work to visually inspect each mile of our power lines to ensure they are free from damage and safe to energize, the company said via its spokesperson.
Inspections will take place during daylight hours and, in most cases, the utility stated they would expect to be able to restore power within 24 to 48 hours in the identified areas after the dry and windy weather has passed. However, company representatives added that depending on weather conditions or if any repairs are needed, outages (weather event plus restoration time) could last longer than 48 hours.
For planning purposes, company representatives suggested the impacted customers prepare for multiple-day outages.
