‘Kind of ridiculous’: Snowy foothills face very long waits for PG&E to restore power
Jim Florence shoveled snow out from behind his SUV at Bonanza Mobile Home Park — one of several parks, many of them geared toward seniors, that line the Pony Express Trail parallel to Highway 50 in Pollock Pines.
Florence, a 65-year-old retiree, lived in Paradise for just eight weeks before the disastrous Camp Fire in November 2018, which destroyed his house and engulfed all of his belongings, and he lived in the East Bay Area before that.
So he’s had almost no experience with snow, but here it was piled four feet high near his front door early Thursday afternoon.
“The snow is so beautiful — follow the snowflakes down, it’s so nice,” Florence said with a wide smile, recalling his perspective on snowfall before having to live through it. “And now, well, this is a little bit different.”
He was clearing the snow out from behind his SUV and pickup truck, neither of which have four-wheel drive, in case he or his wife need to leave in an emergency.
“We’ve never been through this kind of snow, so it’s kind of tough, you know. You don’t have heat, you don’t have lights. We’re very fortunate we’ve got some propane. Turn on the burners, stay a little warm, turn ‘em off.”
The snow has stopped falling for now, but extreme winter storms battered California earlier this week with record amounts, leaving Florence among tens of thousands of residents and businesses in the Sierra Nevada mountains and foothills who’ve been without power since at least Monday.
It could be a while until the lights are back on.
Latest estimates from PG&E on power restoration
More than 50,000 Pacific Gas and Electric Co. customers were without power as of Friday.
In an update that morning, PG&E executives estimated that about 27,000 currently impacted homes and businesses in the Sierra Nevada mountains and foothills will have power restored by next Wednesday, but that another 25,000 will likely have to wait longer than that.
Adam Wright, PG&E’s chief operations officer, said during a Friday morning news conference in Auburn that there are currently about 36,000 customers without power in the utility’s North Valley and Sierra Region, which includes El Dorado, Nevada, Placer and Sierra counties. Another 16,000 are without power in its Stockton and Yosemite divisions, which include Amador, Calaveras and Tuolumne counties.
Wright said that among those 16,000 in the latter region, about 40%, or 9,600, are expected to have power back by this Sunday, and that “essentially all” in those counties should have it restored by next Wednesday.
But in the North Valley and Sierra Region, Wright said PG&E estimates only 10%, or roughly 3,600, of currently affected customers will have power restored by Sunday and about 30% — roughly 11,000 — will have it back by next Wednesday.
That would leave about 25,000 homes and businesses across the mountains and foothills without power by the back half of next week. The utility will “continue to assess” the timeline for restoration, Wright said.
“The damage to our electric transmission and distribution system has been very significant,” Joe Wilson, the vice president of PG&E’s North Valley and Sierra Region, said Friday morning.
“In some instances, in the very high country, it may take up to two weeks” to restore power, Wilson said.
Wright said this week’s winter storm brought the worst, most extensive damage to equipment he has seen in his two decades with PG&E.
Wright and Wilson said the extensive delays are also exacerbated by serious access issues due to stormy weather and accumulated snow. The skies also weren’t clear enough to make use of helicopter patrols until Thursday, Wilson said.
Wright said PG&E also has had to focus on critical infrastructure and buildings, such as hospitals, before working on residential areas.
PG&E has about 2,700 personnel working to restore power in the mountains and foothills, according to Wright. He said the company has reached out to more than 100 other utility companies — from Hawaii to Florida — to ask for assistance.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District and the city of Roseville are already helping, he said.
Several El Dorado County residents, who’ve been without power since the start of this week as snow fell along the Highway 50 corridor as far west as Placerville, told The Sacramento Bee or posted to social media that they’ve gotten text message alerts from PG&E giving estimates of Jan. 7, Jan. 10 or later.
If that comes to pass, it would mean close to two weeks without power in rural Sierra foothills towns — home to many elderly residents and retirees like Florence — as temperatures drop near or below freezing almost every night.
Early forecasts from the National Weather Service also show another round of low-elevation snow is possible next week, maybe as early as Tuesday.
‘Worst weather we’ve had’
The lights were back on Thursday afternoon for many businesses in downtown Placerville, but a few miles east along Highway 50, where the snow had piled up much higher, thousands remained in the dark.
A Mobil station just off the Ridgeway Drive exit in Pollock Pines had caution tape around all of its pumps. Roofs and overhangs layered with 2 feet of snow, the station had gasoline but could not fill up drivers due to the lack of power.
Down the road, residents shoveled mounds that had piled up chest-high or taller. Softball-sized clumps fell in a steady cadence from branches on cedar trees.
“This is the worst weather we’ve had,” said Burton Shanoff, 75, who has lived in Pollock Pines since 2013.
Shanoff spoke with The Bee outside a Campora Propane store, near the Post Office, where he’d hoped to arrange propane delivery service for next week.
But with his phone and internet service knocked out, Shanoff wasn’t able to call ahead or check the business’ website, which warns of weather-related delays. He arrived to find the store closed.
Shanoff said he got a text message from PG&E saying his power wasn’t expected to be restored until Jan. 10. “Which is kind of ridiculous,” he added.
He said Thursday marked his fourth day without electricity. He’s been heating his home with a propane generator since Monday.
“We’re one of the fortunate ones, but there’s a lot of people up here that don’t have generators.”
Shanoff said that includes his next-door neighbors, who have two young kids. They’ve had to use a wood-burning stove, he said.
“They’re just gathering up in the living room on an air mattress, trying to stay warm.”
Florence, the retiree displaced from Paradise, said he’s been fortunate to have generous friends and neighbors who have dropped off propane and checked in with him.
And as for when PG&E might have his power back on?
“I’ve heard a lot of different dates,” Florence said. “The 5th, the 7th (of January). Later than that, even.”
