PG&E: Nearly 800K Customers Across 34 Counties Will See Power Shutoffs
VACAVILLE (CBS13) – Nearly 800,000 PG&E customers will see Public Safety Power Shutoffs come Wednesday, the utility said as it added more counties to the list.
Tuesday, PG&E confirmed that they will proactively start to turn off power in some areas as early as just after midnight.
The utility said power will be turned off to communities in stages, depending on local time of the severe weather.
A Fire Weather Watch has been issued by the National Weather Service across much of Northern California come Wednesday. Forecasters say a widespread, strong and dry wind event is anticipated to hit the region.
Parts of 34 central, coastal and Bay Area counties are expected to see their power shut off.
On Monday, PG&E said the following counties could see power cut: Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Lake, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba.
READ THE LIST OF LOCAL CITIES HERE
Tuesday, PG&E added Humbolt, Kern, Marin and Trinity counties to the list.
And, as the shutoff looms, the PG&E website has been having problems.
We are currently experiencing high volume of traffic to our website & understand your frustration w/ the delay of accessing #PSPS related web pages. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience as our team is working as quickly as possible to restore access. pic.twitter.com/9qTsDxbiNE
— Pacific Gas & Electric (@PGE4Me) October 8, 2019
The utility said on Tuesday that so many people are visiting their website that pages related to the shutoff are crashing.
PG&E says they're working to restore access to the website, but have given no timeframe as when it will be back up.
PG&E said some customers may be affected by the shutoff even if they are not experiencing extreme weather conditions in their location because the electric system relies on power lines working across cities, counties and regions.
Forecasters say the main fire risk looks to be coming early Wednesday through midday on Thursday.