Businesses Working To Get Back To Normal After Power Shutoff
AUBURN (CBS13) — Into the third day of the PG&E Public Safety Shutoffs, thousands of lineman worked to restore power across Northern California, but many in Auburn and the surrounding areas were still in the dark Friday evening.
They were open for business in downtown Auburn, but it's taken a little longer in some of the more remote areas.
"I haven't got to Delta, I am still finishing Alta," said PGE lineman, Aaron Rubio, as he worked to restore power to Friday.
The utility deployed 6,300 linemen in 34 counties to patrol lines, identify damage and make repairs when needed.
Colby Jones watched after two nights in the dark.
"Any minute now. We got dishes to clean, we got clothes to clean, and babies to clean too," said Jones.
Early Friday morning power was restored in Downtown Auburn.
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"We lost all of our product, so we have been down for three days," said Nathan Shreve.
Nathan Shreve runs the Baker and the Cake Maker, supplying baked goods to supermarkets from Sacramento to Nevada City. The planned outage cost him more than $15,000 in losses.
"Sourdough is a three-day process, so it's another three days before we can start producing bread again," said Shreve.
A couple of blocks away at the Natural Trading Company, they were restocking.
"Produce sat for a few days. It went bad so we had to throw it out," said Joaquin Ortiz, who works there.
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They also had to throw out milk, sandwiches, salads and more, resulting in several thousand dollars in losses.
"Everyone shut down, from the smallest end to the biggest. We couldn't get shipments, no trucks wanted to deliver," said Ortiz.
As lineman delivered power and generators were turned off, many questioned the planning behind PGE's planned power outages.
"I grew up on the coast where we had to deal with 90 mph winds in winter, so it's a little weird for almost no wind to not have power," said Jones
By 6 p.m. Friday, PG&E said 93% of customers had power restored.
