By admin 
OAKLAND, California. – The planned power outages that Pacific Gas and Electric started overnight will last well into Thursday as the Diablo Wind event continues. Many customers wonder why, once the wind dies down, it takes so long to restore power when the wind is light and breezy.
FILE – Lineman (Scott Olson/Getty Images/File)
Planned power outages are intended to stop wildfires, but one of the problems is that thousands of people have to go through them and it can take hours, if not days. The windy weather that led to planned outages also caused a slew of weather-related outages across PG&E’s vast service territory.
PG&E is reporting outages to 7,500 Bay Area customers due to issues such as downed cables, in addition to the more than 16,000 customers in the region already affected by planned public safety power shutoffs.
“As forecast, severe winds entered PG&E’s service area last night with peak gusts of 80 mph in St. Helena in Napa County,” PG&E said in a news release Wednesday.
Steve Plevin, who lives in the Pinewood neighborhood of the Oakland Hills, is among many who were warned well in advance that outages were likely.
“According to the initial notification, we had no power all day, all night and until tomorrow morning,” Mr Plevin said.
The real surprise came for 31,000 unscheduled customers who lost power due to weather-related damage to power equipment from falling trees and branches. Either way, it’s painful.
“For most people it’s a huge inconvenience and it would be very helpful if PG&E would move on to underground lines that have to go through here and that could take hours if not days.” Plevin said.
Nevertheless, customers in the regularly indicated planned outage areas find it downright frustrating.
“I mean, we go through this every year, where there’s one or two outages and there seems to be very little progress being made,” Plevin said. “I think there could be a more effective process. What that is, I’m not really sure. However, I do think there could be a more efficient process. It would certainly be helpful, more helpful if they expanded and sort of better idea of the amount of time they would need,” said resident Tursika Bennett.
In the Bay Area, the customers most affected by the shutoffs Wednesday were in the North Bay, where 4,575 customers were affected in Napa County and 4,496 in Solano County, according to PG&E spokesperson Tamar Sarkissian.
The closures also affected 2,373 customers in Alameda County; 1,815 in Sonoma County; 1,709 in Santa Clara County and 1,228 in Contra Costa County.
The reason outages last so long, once the wind danger has disappeared, is because PG&E inspectors have to look at every inch of line and equipment in the outage area to make sure there are no branches or trees on them. have fallen through. And then, and only then, can they restore power.
The National Weather Service has issued a widespread Red Flag Warning for the Bay Area and Central Coast, San Francisco, the Peninsula and the Santa Cruz region through 7 a.m. Thursday.
Statewide, an estimated 22,000 people are affected by the power outages, and another 32,000 are estimated to be without power due to high winds.
PG&E has opened 29 Community Resource Centers in 17 affected counties.
Customers can also contact 211 for local support, including finding transportation assistance, hotel support and food options during power outages.
Bay City News contributed to this report.