PG & E has short window to restore power before this weekend's storm

With a historic series of winter storms damaging electric equipment and causing power outages, Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) crews are mobilized throughout Northern and Central California assessing the damage and making repairs to restore power.

Over the 24 hours ending at 3 p.m. today, PG&E has safely restored power to more than 406,000 customers. As of 3 p.m., there are approximately 2,300 outages affecting 95,500 customers, with many in the North Coast, Bay Area and Central Coast areas. PG&E recognizes the urgency of restoring power and will work diligently until all customers are restored

Hazards such as fallen trees, floods and debris flows have made gaining access difficult in some areas and could delay power restoration efforts. Additional storms are forecast over the coming week, which will likely also impact restoration times and lead to additional widespread outages.

“Our crews are out in full force restoring customers safely and as quickly as possible. We are conducting assessments of damage and prioritizing repairs with a focus on critical facilities and resolving outages that are impacting the largest number of customers. We have a short window of time to make as much progress as we can before the next weather system in this series of storms enters our service area over the weekend,” said Janisse Quiñones, PG&E’s Senior Vice President, Electric Operations.

The brunt of the atmospheric river storm hit Wednesday, bringing wind gusts over 100 mph and as much as five inches of rain in some areas. This came on the heels of an earlier series of storms, resulting in highly saturated soils that have contributed to downed trees and debris flows.

PG&E prepared for this weather and has mobilized more than 3,000 PG&E coworkers, contractors and mutual-aid personnel. Mutual aid crews from Southern California Edison, San Diego Gas & Electric, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah and Washington are also supporting response efforts.

“I’d like to recognize the thousands of dedicated professionals out there working tirelessly to get the lights back on for our hometowns,” Quiñones sai