Storm Update: Vast Majority of Customers Expected to Have Electric Service by End of Day Today

UPDATE March 17, 1:00 p.m.

As of noon today, approximately 12,000 customers, mostly in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Monterey counties, are still without power due this week’s wind and rain storm. Approximately 7,000 PG&E, contract and mutual aid partners are in the field today, conducting inspections, making repairs and completing restorations. The vast majority of customers who are currently out will be restored by end of day today, and essentially all customers impacted by this storm will be restored by end of day tomorrow.

Roughly 650,000 customers were impacted by this historic weather event that brought winds, rain and damage to PG&E equipment. PG&E recorded more than 3,500 separate outages—the majority in the Bay Area—that were triggered by downed lines, broken poles, damage to PG&E equipment and vegetation blown into lines by the wind. Crews worked safely and quickly to restore service to more than 80 percent of customers within 24 hours. 

We are sincerely grateful for our customers’ patience through this event. This will be the final Currents update for this event, but customers can get updates on restoration for their service at PG&E’s Outage Center. PG&E crews continue to address storm damage.

UPDATE: March 16, 9:00 p.m.

PG&E crews continue to make progress on restoring power across our service area. As of 8:30 PM, approximately 18,500 customer are without power, primarily in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties.   

Outage information can be found on PG&E’s Outage Center. Customers currently experiencing an outage as a result of Tuesday’s storm have been given an estimated time of restoration (ETOR) and will be notified via phone, text and/or email should timelines change.

UPDATE: March 16, 7:30 p.m.

Aaron Johnson, PG&E Vice President of the Bay Area Region, provided an update on the ongoing work PG&E crews are doing to restore every customer safely and as quickly as possible. Over the last few days, PG&E customers experienced the biggest weather event in the Bay Area since 1995, with more than 510,000 customers experiencing a power outage at some point this week. Over 93% of those customers have now been restored, and there are over 430 crews working around the clock to restore those who still remain without power. PG&E thanks customers for their patience and wants them to know we will not stop until all customers have power restored.

UPDATE: March 16, 5:00 p.m.

Crews Making Progress Restoring Customers

Crews continue to make progress restoring customers. The South Bay area (Saratoga and West San Jose) was hit hard, accounting for nearly half of the more than 500 reported damages to equipment systemwide.

Customers currently experiencing an outage as a result of Tuesday’s storm have been given an estimated time of restoration (ETOR) and will be notified via phone, text and/or email should timelines change. www.pge.com/outages.

Customers needing support are encouraged to call the California Network of 2-1-1 (www.211.org) to connect with resources in their local communities.   

Detailed information for counties currently experiencing largest number of outages, as of this morning:

San Mateo County

• 8,299 customers out of service
• 123 outages still require resolution
• Based on today's completed assessments, it is projected that approximately 90% of the original customers impacted will be energized by the end of today.

 Santa Clara County

• 19,287 customers out of service
• 216 outages still require resolution
• Based on today's completed assessments, it is projected that approximately 90% of the original customers impacted will be energized by the end of today.

UPDATE: March 16, 10:30 a.m.

Crews Remain Focused on Restoration

Crews continue to work to restore customers impacted by this week’s storm which brought heavy rain, extremely gusty winds and caused extensive wide-spread damage. There are more than 430 crews (more than 5,500 personnel) including crews from Southern California Edison, Modesto Irrigation District and The City of Roseville currently dedicated to storm response and service restoration, with 55 additional crews joining the effort today and tomorrow. 

Customers currently experiencing an outage as a result of Tuesday’s storm have been given an estimated time of restoration (ETOR) and will be notified via phone, text and/or email should timelines change. www.pge.com/outages.

 Anyone needing support are encouraged to call the California Network of 2-1-1 (www.211.org) to connect with resources in their local communities.   

Detailed information for counties currently experiencing largest number of outages, as of this morning:

San Mateo County

• 13,434 customers out of service
• 187 outages still require resolution
• Based on today's completed assessments, it is projected that approximately 90% of the original customers impacted will be energized by the end of today.

Santa Clara County

• 24,049 customers out of service
• 302 outages still require resolution
• Based on today's completed assessments, it is projected that approximately 90% of the original customers impacted will be energized by the end of today.

In photo: A sample of the wide-spread damage. Weeks of heavy rain followed by intense, severe winds toppled trees which damaged power equipment and caused outages.

UPDATE: March 15, 10:30 p.m.

Restoration efforts continue

PG&E crews continue to work on conducting storm damage assessments, repairs and restoration. Currently, 76,815 customers are without power, primarily in Santa Clara, San Mateo and Contra Costa Counties.

At the peak of yesterday’s storm, weather stations recorded wind speeds that reached 97 MPH. With the weather event exiting PG&E’s service area, crews continue to follow the five-step restoration plan today. So far, they have identified damage to 217 power poles and 157 transformers.

Outage information can be found on PG&E’s Outage Center. Customers currently experiencing an outage as a result of Tuesday’s storm have been given an estimated time of restoration (ETOR) and will be notified via phone, text and/or email should timelines change.

UPDATE: March 15, 1:00 p.m.

At a virtual news briefing today, PG&E operational leaders provide updates on the company’s emergency and restoration response to the recent atmospheric river event that delivered unexpected excessive wind and rain to PG&E’s service area. 

0:30 safety message
3:34 event overview
4:35 restoration challenges
5:18 outage totals
6:39 restoration prioritization
7:12 storm response details
8:20 forecast
9:10 impacts
9:20 restoration process summary
11:56 ETORs
12:50 community-based partners

UPDATE: March 15, 11:20 a.m.

PG&E representatives will hold a virtual news briefing today at 1 p.m. PDT to provide an update on the company’s response to the recent atmospheric river event that delivered strong winds and heavy rains to PG&E’s service area. 

View live stream here:

www.youtube.com/live/Zlyd30FZ1T4?feature=share

PG&E crews worked through the night to conduct storm damage assessments, repairs and restoration. Currently, 162,263 customers are without power.

At the peak of the storm, weather stations recorded wind speeds that reached 97 MPH. With the weather event exiting PG&E’s service area, crews continue to follow the five-step restoration plan today. So far they have identified damages to 167 power poles and 125 transformers.

Outage information can be found on PG&E’s Outage Center. Customers experiencing an outage who have not yet been given an estimated time of restoration (ETOR) can expect to have this information by end of day today.

UPDATE: March 14, 11:00 p.m. 

Electric Power Restoration Continues

On March 14, at 2:30 p.m. 361,000 customers throughout the Bay Area and Central Coast had lost electric service. As of 11 p.m., PG&E crews restored electric service to 129,311 customers in these regions. Our crews will continue to restore power to customers safely and quickly as possible.

UPDATE: March 14, 8:50 p.m. 

Restoration Response to Atmospheric River Storm Damage

While the most intense part of the storm has mostly passed, PG&E crews are working through challenging conditions to restore customers safely and as quickly as possible. Accessibility issues and other hazards produced by the storm left significant damage and widespread outages across throughout the Bay Area, Central Coast, South Bay, Monterey County and Central Valley. The restoration process in many locations was held for hours while extreme wind gusts continued making working unsafe.

We anticipate access to damaged areas may still be difficult, which could add to the time it takes to restore power. Flooding, downed trees, and unstable soil contributing to falling rock and debris flows are all likely to occur and pose hazards for crews seeking access.

PG&E’s Outage Center is your best resource to search for outage details or report an outage. Here’s a quick tutorial on how to navigate the tool: 

UPDATE: March 14, 4:00 p.m. 

Central Coast Outage and Response Update

PG&E continues to respond to the latest storm impacting the Central Coast region.

The storm has presented additional challenges in an area that has already been saturated with heavy rain and bracketed by strong winds.

As of 3:30 p.m., we have 20,384 customers out in the Central Coast division.

As impacts from this latest storm continue to be felt, we are responding to these outages safely and as quickly as possible. We have 63 crews working in the Central Coast region today, as well as additional assessment and vegetation management crews.

PG&E also maintains communications with county, fire, and police officials during emergencies to help keep the public informed.

Today’s outages are just the latest for a region that has been affected by every storm that has moved through California this year.

Most recently, transmission lines serving the Carmel area were damaged by falling trees on Sunday. This caused delays for restoration of customers as our transmission crews worked to repair those lines, while other crews patrolled Distribution lines to check for additional damage. That outage was restored before this latest storm, but new damage has caused new outages.

During this time, customers may have noticed unmarked vehicles parked near downed power lines. During storm response, PG&E workers serve in a 911-response role to ensure that the public stays away from downed power lines. These workers will have PG&E protective equipment but may be in their personal vehicles. Their job is to keep the public away from downed lines until qualified electric workers are available to make repairs.

UPDATE: March 14, 2:30 p.m. 

Storm Charges into California with Gusts Reaching 90 MPH

The current weather system entered PG&E’s service area bringing very strong and gusty winds that downed trees and power lines, resulting in a significant number of outages throughout the Bay Area and Central Coast. High winds are expected through this evening, which could further impact service to customers. Currently, 361,000 customers are without power.

PG&E crews are encountering challenging conditions and are prioritizing their response on emergency calls from local Police and Fire Departments to make the areas safe, in light of damages, such as lines and poles down.

As of this afternoon, wind gusts reached over 90 miles per hour in some areas.

Recorded Wind Speeds and Locations

• SFO reaching-74 mph,
• Mt Umunhum/S.C. Mtns-97 mph
• Mines Road/Interior East Bay-93 mph
• Las Trampas/Oakland Hills-71 mph
• Elsewhere, widespread gusts were recorded reaching 45-55 mph

Current weather models show that isolated gusts exceeding 65 mph are possible through the Sacramento and northern San Joaquin Valleys, as well as along the Sierra foothills and over elevated terrain.

UPDATE: March 14, 11:30 a.m. 

The latest winter storm entered PG&E’s service area early today, bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall. Approximately 198,000 customers are currently without service, primarily in the Central Coast region.

High winds and soil instability have the potential to bring down trees and damage electrical equipment, often resulting in outages. Crews are mobilized and responding to outages. In some areas, flooding, fallen trees, mudslides, and washed out roads may cause access issues. More information on outages can be found on PG&E’s Outage Center.

The National Weather Service has indicated that the vast majority of our service area is under a flood advisory, watch or warning. For more information visit: NWS Weather & Hazards (noaa.gov)

The American Red Cross has opened shelters throughout California to provide emergency support including a safe place to sleep, food and water, and some first aid. A full list of services and locations can be found at: American Red Cross Shelter Information. 

UPDATE: March 13, 4 p.m. 

The 13th atmospheric river storm to hit California since Jan.1 will arrive Monday evening (March 13), bringing additional rain, low-elevation snow and potential outages to Northern and Central California for the next few days.

Snow could fall as low as 500 feet overnight in some locations, according to PG&E meteorologists, including in some areas still recovering from the series of storms that have moved across PG&E’s service area in the first 10 weeks of the year. In some locations, more than 600 inches of snow has fallen, and the various storms have caused outages for millions of customers.

Scattered showers with isolated thunderstorms will also be possible as this system lingers over the region, mostly during the afternoons, and mainly across the interior valleys and the coast. Officials are also warning of potential river flooding in locations like Salinas and Modesto and more access issues for mountain communities across the state.

Snow levels will generally remain around 2,000 to 3,000 feet each day, but will drop to around 500 to 1,500 feet Monday night with minor accumulations expected below 2,000 feet.

The National Weather Service has Winter Storm Warnings in place for much of the elevated terrain in Northern California and across most of the Sierra and Sierra foothills until Tuesday afternoon/early Wednesday

Low-elevation snowfall across Humboldt, the North Valley and the Sierra foothills from Stockton north will create additional potential for electric outages.

Isolated thunderstorms, primarily across the interior valleys and coast, are another minor outage risk for Monday and Tuesday.

Drier weather is then expected across the far south tomorrow with most precipitation expected to exit the North and Central parts of the region during the day Wednesday; a break in weather is then expected for everyone Wednesday evening into Thursday.

PG&E’s Emergency Operations Center will open at 6 p.m. Monday to manage the storm restoration effort. As of 2 p.m. Monday, 6,600 customers are without electric service, mainly in the Central Coast and Sierra regions.