Thousands of PG&E customers still without power in Sierra Nevada foothills
Thousands of Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers remain without power nearly two weeks after a severe winter storm dumped snow over the Sierra Nevada foothills, knocking down power lines and plunging many in the region into darkness.
In a Saturday afternoon update, PG&E spokeswoman Karly Hernandez said that 5,765 customers were affected in the utility’s Sierra Division. In Nevada County, 3,550 customers were without power, along with 1,049 in Placer County, 750 in El Dorado County and 355 in Sierra County.
PG&E officials previously said that all affected residents should have their lights back on by Tuesday or earlier.
The most extensive damage — caused by intense snowfall over a short period of time — was reported in Nevada County.
Last week, PG&E officials said that there were more than 300 damaged power poles in that county alone, along with 580 sites identified as needing conductor or line repair and more than 170 damaged cross-arms. Hernandez said that the storm caused more than 3,200 instances of damage to PG&E equipment in total, and that over the weekend there would be more than 250 crews working to make repairs, with more than 2,200 personnel.
PG&E has opened several community resource centers for those in the Sierra affected by the power outages, allowing residents to charge electronic devices or grab essential supplies.
In El Dorado County, residents should head to the Garden Valley Grange Hall at 4940 Marshall Road in Garden Valley. Nevada County has two centers open, one at Alta Sierra County Club at 11897 Tammy Way in Grass Valley and another in the Madelyn Helling Library at 980 Maidu Way in Nevada City.
In Placer County, centers are set up at the Alta Fire Protection District Community Hall at 33950 Alta Bonnynook Road in Alta, at the Sierra Vista Community Center at 55 School Sreet in Colfax and at the Veterans Memorial Hall at 24601 Harrison Street in Foresthill.
Sierra County has one center, at the Downieville Community Hall at 327 Main Street in Downieville.
Sierra residents who remain without weather have been struggling as the blackout, for some, nears its second week. Some have no running water without a powered well pump and have been unable to bathe or wash their clothes. Others are burning firewood to keep warm in cold winter weather.