Some enter 6th day without power as PG&E crews work to end outage in snowy foothills
Hit simultaneously by a snow storm, frigid weather and a mandate that all California residents only leave home for essential reasons, a few thousand homes and business in the Sierra Nevada foothills remain without power Friday morning, the sixth straight day in the dark for some residents
Nearly 150 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. crews continue to work Friday to restore power after a low-elevation snow event, which dumped feet in the higher elevations of the Sierra and several inches in the surrounding foothills between Saturday and Tuesday before mostly subsiding, damaged power lines and equipment throughout the region. The weather also created access issues for crews trying to fix that equipment.
PG&E spokeswoman Brandi Merlo in an emailed update said that under 8,000 customers were without power as of 8 a.m. Friday. Merlo in tweets and emails throughout the week has documented the struggle of getting power back online, as the outage total was trimmed slightly from about 12,000 customers Thursday morning to 10,700 by 5:30 p.m.
Merlo says 145 crews are working Friday morning toward restoration and that helicopters and 20 snowcats are patrolling lines in search of additional damage.
A little over 30,000 customers were without power at one point Monday, according to the utility company.
The bulk of the homes and businesses still impacted are in Nevada, Placer, El Dorado, Sierra, Amador and Calaveras counties, while PG&E was able to restore power to most affected in Tuolumne County over the course of Thursday, Merlo wrote.
Merlo in a Thursday afternoon update said many customers in the foothills should see power restored by Friday, but that “extensive damage will result in still longer outages” for some.
The PG&E online outage map as of 8 a.m. Friday showed about 3,000 customers in the Pollock Pines area with no power, including one patch of about 700 still-ongoing outages that are reported to have started around 1:30 a.m. Sunday. That would make Friday day six of the power outage for those 700 customers.
The extended outages are even more problematic given the ongoing coronavirus crisis, which has elevated in intensity over the course of the week. Gov. Gavin Newsom early this week directed adults over age 65 to self-isolate in their homes, expanding his directive on Thursday evening to a mandatory order that all 40 million Californians stay at their place of residence except for essential outings like shopping for groceries or other supplies. Placer County has, since earlier this week, strongly recommended that all residents shelter in place.
Donna Nobriga, of Amador County, told The Sacramento Bee on Wednesday that it’s hard to stay healthy with no heat and only cold water. She lives in the small town of Pioneer, which mostly has retired residents who are trying to do the right thing by staying home to help slow the coronavirus spread, she said at the time.
“I know there are people in worse shape, but we aren’t going to be able to stay isolated without power,” Nobriga said.
Her home’s power was restored about 8:45 p.m. Wednesday after three days without electricity, she said.
Pollock Pines was 31 degrees and sunny as of 8:30 a.m. Friday, according to the National Weather Service.
This story was originally published March 20, 2020 at 8:39 AM.
