Hundreds of thousands of PG&E customers are without power in the utility's latest round of outages prompted by what officials forecasted to be the strongest wind event to hit Northern California in years.
This latest round of blackouts began Saturday and impacts up to 940,000 customers across 36 counties. The outages also come as firefighters continue to battle the devastating Kincade Fire, which has triggered what officials consider to be the largest evacuation in Sonoma County's history.
In the Bay Area, all counties except San Francisco are exeriencing some outages. The blackouts were expected to last through Monday, but PG&E has since warned several areas could be without power until Wednesday morning. Nearly 400,000 customers in the Bay Area are impacted in this latest round of power shutoffs.
The outages rolled out in the following counties in phases and began Saturday afternoon:
First Phase - 4 p.m. Saturday: Amador, Butte, El Dorado, Glenn, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Joquin, Sierra, Shasta, Tehama and Yuba.
Second Phase - 5 p.m. Saturday: Colusa, Marin, Mendocino (south), Napa, Solano, Sonoma and Yolo
Third Phase midnight Sunday: Alpine, Calaveras, Mariposa and Tuolumne
Fourth Phase - 8 p.m. Saturday: Alameda, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Benito, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Stanislaus.
Fifth Phase 8 p.m. Saturday: Humboldt, Mendocino (north), Siskiyou and Trinity
Sixth Phase 9 p.m. Sunday: Kern
- View PG&E's live outage map
- National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning this weekend (click here for further details)
- No power? Here's how to keep your food cold
Meanwhile, PG&E forecasted another wind event that could mean a second major electrical shutoff this week, lasting Tuesday night through Thursday morning, the utility announced Sunday.
The new event could extend to portions of 32 counties in the PG&E service area, covering the Northern and Southern Sierra, North Bay, Bay Area and Santa Cruz mountains, North Coast and Kern County.
Counties that fall under the new PSPS area include, Alameda, Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Kern, Lake, Marin, Mariposa, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Shasta, Sierra, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo, and Yuba.
Twice over the past two weeks, PG&E has cut power to large areas of northern and central California to reduce the risk of its equipment sparking fires. Nearly 2 million people lost electricity earlier this month, and then as many as a half-million earlier this week.
Potential Public Safety Power Shutoff Impacted Areas for Oct. 26-28
This map shows approximate outlines of potentially impacted areas. For the most accurate information for your address, use the address lookup tool.
Source: PG&E
Here's a breakdown of how many PG&E customers in the Bay Area are impacted by countyin the current shutoff:
- Alameda: 57,002 (Albany, Berkeley, Canyon, Castro Valley, Dublin, Fremont, Hayward, Livermore, Oakland, Piedmont, Pleasanton, San Leandro, Sunol)
- Contra Costa: 48,058 (Alamo, Antioch, Brentwood, Byron, Canyon, Clayton, Concord, Crockett, Danville, Diablo, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, Knightsen, Lafayette, Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Pinole, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Port Costa, Richmond, Rodeo, San Pablo, San Ramon, Walnut Creek)
- Marin: 118,535 (Belvedere, Bolinas, Corte Madera, Dillon Beach, Fairfax, Fallon, Forest Knolls, Greenbrae, Inverness, Kentfield, Lagunitas, Larkspur, Marshall, Mill Valley, Muir Beach, Nicasio, Novato, Olema, Point Reyes Station, Ross, San Anselmo, San Geronimo, San Rafael, Sausalito, Stinson Beach, Tiburon, Tomales, Woodacre)
- Napa: 17,878 (Angwin, Calistoga, Deer Park, Lake Berryessa, Oakville, Pope Valley, Rutherford, St Helena, Yountville)
- San Mateo: 57,218 (Belmont, Burlingame, Daly City, El Granada, Emerald Hills, Half Moon Bay, Hillsborough, La Honda, Loma Mar, Montara, Moss Beach, Pacifica, Pescadero, Portola Valley, Redwood City, San Bruno, San Carlos, San Gregorio, San Mateo, South San Francisco, Woodside, Unincorporated Communities in Southwest San Mateo County)
- Santa Clara: 27,094 (Coyote, Cupertino, Gilroy, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Morgan Hill, Redwood Estates, San Jose, San Martin)
- Santa Cruz: 44,942 (Aptos, Ben Lomond, Brookdale, Capitola, Corralitos, Felton, Freedom, La Selva Beach, Mount Hermon, Santa Cruz, Scotts Valley, Soquel)
- Solano: 25,524 (Fairfield, Suisun City, Vacaville, Vallejo)
- Sonoma: 95,647 (Annapolis, Bodega, Bodega Bay, Camp Meeker, Cazadero, Cloverdale, Cotati, Duncans Mills, Forestville, Freestone, Geyserville, Glen Ellen, Graton, Guerneville, Healdsburg, Jenner, Kenwood, Larkfield, Monte Rio, Occidental, Penngrove, Petaluma, Rio Nido, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Stewarts Point, Valley Ford, Villa Grande, Windsor)
The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.
The Fire Weather Watch has been upgraded to a Red Flag Warning for the N/E Bay (8 PM Sat-11 AM Mon), SF Peninsula Coast and Santa Cruz Mountains (3 AM Sun-11 AM Mon). Confidence is high for dangerously strong offshore winds and critically low RH. #CAwx #CAfire pic.twitter.com/5r5l1EVZBo
— NWS Bay Area (@NWSBayArea) October 25, 2019
