As this weekend’s major wind event comes to a close, PG&E is hoping to restore power to Sonoma County residents. The company is also monitoring weather that may lead to an additional shutoff.
In an interview on Sunday afternoon, PG&E spokesperson Deanna Contreras said that the company hopes to begin restoring power to Sonoma County between Monday and Tuesday.
“We’re hoping to get the ‘all clear’ tomorrow, and then we’ll start working on restoring power as soon as it’s safe to do so,” she said.
The “all clear” has not been issued for Sonoma County yet, but Contreras said the company is continuing to monitor conditions with the hope of receiving the “all clear” to begin restoring power.
More than 6,000 people are on the ground performing inspections. Contreras said that the company has also requested the mutual aid of 1,000 workers from other energy companies. There are also 45 helicopters out inspecting lines, but Contreras said visibility may be impacted by the Kincade Fire.
“As wind conditions improved Sunday afternoon, a weather all clear was issued for customers in Humboldt, Siskiyou, Trinity, Northern Mendocino and portions of Lake County,” Contreras said in a press release on the morning of Monday, Oct. 28.
PG&E continued patrols and inspections in several other counties impacted by the shutdowns on Sunday on Monday morning.
Contreras said that due to this weekend’s high winds, the damage to power lines may be significant and require additional resources to handle.
Looking forward
According to Contreras, PG&E is also monitoring weather conditions for another possible public safety power shutoff (PSPS) for Tuesday, due to another wind event that’s anticipated for Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday morning. If PG&E decides to perform a PSPS, Contreras said that it will impact approximately 32 counties, including Sonoma County. If PG&E goes through with the shutdown, this will be the third consecutive power shutoff in the span of a week.
PG&E has not released the number of Sonoma County customers who may be impacted by shutoff.
“PG&E will make every effort to restore power to as many customers as possible, who are currently out of power due to the Oct. 26 PSPS event. However, due to the dynamic and changing weather conditions and high fire risk, some customers who are currently out of power may remain out throughout the duration of the next potential PSPS event,” Contreras said. “For those customers able to have their power restored between events, PG&E urges them to use the opportunity to charge any medical equipment, phones and other electronic devices and restock emergency kits.”
