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By Olivia Wynkoop
Bay City News
Over 450,000 California residents were without power during Tuesday’s high winds and rain, PG&E officials said during a briefing on Wednesday.
And in the Bay Area alone, approximately 108,000 people were still without power as of 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Officials said it was the 38th consecutive day the company’s emergency operations center has been active, pointing to an extraordinary winter season with high levels of rain, snows, flooding, mudslides and other storm-related emergencies throughout the state.
More than 5,500 crew members are in the field to restore power during extreme weather, said Sumeet Singh, PG&E chief operating officer. He added that the company will continue to prioritize safety above all, which sometimes means that it takes a while to restore service in some areas.
“At PG&E, we know how important that electricity is to your families, schools, communities and businesses,” said Singh. “And we will not stop working until we get power back for every single one of our customers.”
Singh said the company is working to recover from the most recent storm event this week — the 13th storm in the past 75 days — which broke a record for the storm with the greatest amount of power outages for customers in the Bay Area since 1995.
On Tuesday, nearly 367,000 customers across California were without power at the peak of the storm, Singh said.
Of the total 450,000 customers around the state impacted by outages on Tuesday, 290,000 have had their power restored as of Wednesday afternoon, he said.
“When there is extensive damage, it can take some time to safely access a situation and assessment. We know this can be frustrating,” said Singh. “Our commitment is to provide restoration estimates no later than 24 hours after the outage starts even if we haven’t been able to access the outage to assess it.”
Angie Gibson, vice president of emergency preparedness and response at PG&E’s Emergency Operations Center in Vacaville, said the Bay Area counties with the most damage are Santa Clara, San Mateo and Contra Costa counties. Most damage stems from trees uprooting due to soil saturation and extreme winds..
She said upcoming weather will make it easier for crews to assess and restore in affected areas.
“The extreme storm that produced the major damage yesterday has thankfully exited the territory,” said Gibson. “We have fair and dry weather, which will continue through at least tomorrow with light winds.”
Residents who notice a downed power line are encouraged to first call 9-1-1, then PG&E at 1-800-743-5000. People concerned about their vulnerable neighbors can also receive information on community services in the area at 2-1-1.
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