CALIFORNIA—Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) has restored electricity to most residents in St. Helena. According to the PG&E power outage map on their website, electricity is touch and go at times. Originally, the utility officials thought they could turn the power on by Friday.
In all, almost 400,000 customers have been affected by the latest power outages. But by Wednesday, October 28, 2020, power should be completely restored to the rest of the customers.
Power was originally shut off because of the recent threat of forest fires and hurricane-strong winds that affected the area. The reason PG&E officials shut the power off is that they were concerned that the poor weather conditions would cause more fire problems.
The Guardian reported that a power company in southern California believes their equipment sparked a fast-moving wildfire that affected nearly 100,000 people and badly hurt two firefighters. It is believed that a “lashing wire” to a telecommunications line accidentally hit a 12,000-volt conducting line.
The National Weather Service indicated they recorded wind gusts of up to 90 mph around the Mt. St. Helena area. In the San Francisco Bay area, wind gusts reached up to 50 mph. At the Oakland International Airport, 45-mph gusts were recorded.
Officials do not expect another power shut down for another 10 days because of the weather conditions.
