Sudden Power Outage Affects 3,000 in Albina
On Tuesday, East Bay’s Albina area experienced a sudden power outage that affected over 3,000 locals within the region. Based on PG&E’s live outage map, the outages impacted East Bay’s northern part, primarily hitting the Albina sector.
According to the power utility update, over a total of 3,121 customers were affected by the blackouts. Moreover, the outage map revealed that the power interruptions happened before 11 a.m. on Tuesday. Eventually, Albina got back its electrical power by 4:30 p.m. later that day.
As of late, PG&E hasn’t given any updates regarding the cause of the sudden power interruptions in the affected areas.
The October 25 Massive Power Interruption
Throughout the latter half of the year, North California has experienced multiple power outages across the state due to several causes, mostly due to gusty winds and storms. On October 25 of this year, PG&E established safety power outages across the country to prepare for the dangerously high winds that would arrive two days later. According to the previously mentioned power company, they imposed the electrical interruptions to prevent potential massive wildfires from happening due to gusty winds running at fast speeds. The massive blackouts affected over 335,000 to 345,000 homes within the country.
According to PG&E’s outage map, over 36 counties and 361,000 customers got affected by the electrical interruptions. Shasta and Glenn counties, including some areas in Redding town, were the first ones to experience the scheduled safety blackouts. On Saturday evening, PG&E incident commander Mark Quinlan mentioned in his statement that the power company is using the “islanding” method to ensure several counties’ local generating stations to preserve power in times of emergency crises. According to Quinlan, the technique can help permit gas stations and shopping districts to remain powered with generators provided by PG&E, allowing services to become continuously available for affected locals.
Around 4:04 p.m. on October 25, California’s Governor’s Office of Emergency Services revealed that roughly 111,000 PG&E customers have first experienced the power outage in planned shutoffs to prevent wildfires. The Bay Area is one of those states that got affected first by the blackouts, and Butty County recorded at least 13,000 impacted residents without electricity. Meanwhile, Sonoma County reported the number of PG&E consumers without power with over 11,000.
PG&E confirmed that by 3 p.m. on October 25, parts of Solano, Contra Costa, Napa, and Bay Area counties would experience the scheduled power interruptions. At roughly 6 p.m., multiple Marin County customers lost power, followed by Alameda County at 8 p.m. By 10 p.m., several sections of Santa Clara and San Mateo districts got impacted by the electrical interruptions.
According to Cal Fire, south of Redding has reported several fires occurring within the area, despite scheduled power shutdown efforts to avoid possible wildfire calamities. Cal Fire revealed Olinda Fire, Point Fire, and Dersch Fire burned down over 20, 225, and 50 estate properties.
October 26 Power Restoration Plans and Weather Conditions Update
On October 26, the power utility revealed its plans to restore power to more than 91,400 affected customers coming from counties Contra Costa, San Mateo, Alameda, Solano, Napa, Marin, Santa Clara, and Sonoma. PG&E stated that the power restoration would commence within 12 hours of the same day.
The electricity crew got its green light signal to return power after PG&E meteorologists issued an “all-clear” signal to announce the weakening of dangerous winds sweeping the country. While eight of the previously mentioned counties would have their electricity service restored on October 26 Monday, most PG&E customers would have to wait until Tuesday evening for the full power restoration.
Despite the planned return of power services across Northern California, the National Weather Service would still issue a red flag warning for East Bay and North Bay hills due to breezy conditions and extremely low humidity continuing at higher elevations. The warning would remain in effect until the late afternoon of October 27, Tuesday.
