Power Shutoffs Begin In Butte, Nevada And Yuba Counties, PG&E Says
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) – The latest on the PG&E power shutoffs in Northern California:
9:30 p.m.
Approximately 24,000 customers had their power turned off Monday evening as part of PG&E Public Safety Power Shutoff.
5 p.m.
PG&E announced that at approximately 5 p.m., crews began turning off power to about 27,500 customers in Butte, Nevada and Yuba Counties.
The utility said it will take several hours to turn off the power in the affected areas.
Customers in El Dorado County, Lake County, Sutter County, Napa County, Placer County and Sonoma County are advised to remain on standby for a possible weather event Tuesday.
For the current outage map, click here.
1:30 p.m.
PG&E is now saying that the North Bay and most Sierra Foothills customers won't see public safety power shutoffs on Monday.
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for Northern California that lasts until Wednesday.
Monday, PG&E announced that they're now only expecting to shut off power Butte, Nevada and Yuba counties.
El Dorado, Placer and Sutter counties (along with the North Bay counties of Lake, Napa and Sonoma) now look to be in the clear, officials said.
Only about 21,000 PG&E customers are now expected to be affected by the power outage, down from the original 124,000.
PG&E said safety is top of mind, and the looming power shut off is meant to cut down on the risk of wildfires. Last year, the company's transmission lines started the Camp Fire – and they don't want anything like that to happen again.
The power is expected to be turned off in Butte, Nevada and Yuba counties starting around 5 p.m. Monday. Elevated fire risk conditions are expected to start around 8 p.m., PG&E officials say, with the peak fire risk predicted to last through 9 a.m. Tuesday.
