Several power outages reported across SMUD territory in Sacramento due to weather

Several thousand homes and businesses lost power Sunday in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District due to weather-related events, as windy conditions caused at least one power pole to snap and a tree triggered another outage.

A power outage briefly affected 10,490 customers in Rio Linda, which emergency officials said may have been caused by a “power pole emergency.”

In a tweet, the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District said it was on the scene of a “power pole emergency in Rio Linda which may be causing a significant power outage.” A video of the scene showed a power pole severed near the top.

Power was restored just after 5 p.m., according to SMUD’s outage map. The fire department said no injuries had been reported and “the damage appears weather related.”

Power was also cut off for a time for roughly 5,000 homes in businesses in parts of downtown, midtown and East Sacramento after a tree fell onto a power line, according to SMUD officials.

“Our crews are working to restore power within the hour,” SMUD said in a social media post just after 5 p.m. The outage was first reported about 4:30 p.m.

Customers in south Sacramento near Executive Airport, in Rancho Cordova and in the Vineyard section of the county also experienced outages Sunday afternoon.

This story was originally published September 18, 2022 at 4:49 PM.