Massive Storm Causes Big Outages in PG&E Territory

Updated Oct. 27

The powerful storm that dumped unprecedented rainfall in parched Northern and Central California, particularly the Bay Area, led to 851,000 Pacific Gas & Electric customers losing power. As the storm moved south, customers in Fresno, Kern, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara counties suffered outages.

On Sunday, Santa Rosa was hit with 6.2 inches of rain, Auburn 5.8 inches, Sacramento 5.2 inches, Ukiah 5 inches, Napa 4.5 inches, and San Francisco 4.2 inches. PG&E reported wind speeds up to 60 mph in San Francisco, 52 mph in Chico, 45 mph in Oakland, and 43 mph in Half Moon Bay.

In Sacramento Municipal Utilities District territory, 100,000 customers lost power on Sunday, but most of them—71,000—only for five minutes or less, said spokesperson Lindsay Vanlaningham. The biggest outages were caused by cars hitting poles.

By 7 PM on Wednesday, Oct. 27, PG&E reported that power was restored to more than 99%  of its customers who suffered outages.

The rain did not hit Southern California until Monday and arrived without the powerful winds. But it did cause 13,300 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers, or 1% of the ratepayers, to lose power. By Tuesday afternoon, all but 600 customers had their power back on, said spokesperson Ellen Cheng.