Parents Juggle Children At Home Amid PG&E Power Outage
EL DORADO COUNTY (CBS13) — Some schools in El Dorado County are without power on Wednesday and will continue to stay that way on Thursday.
It's making an already stressful situation for folks even more stressful.
"You take an already stressful situation and then you know it makes it a little bit more stressful," Lolita O'Neal said.
Some people said that they may have power and their neighbors do not. Regardless, the outage and school closures have thrown a monkey wrench into their plans.
"My husband had to stay home and he works in the Bay Area just because he wants to make sure we're all safe because I have to be in three different areas at three different times," Rang Hang said.
"Anybody who could watch our kids up here are also impacted," O'Neal said.
READ ALSO: Thursday School Closures Due To Power Shutoffs
O'Neal said that she had to drive to the El Dorado County Public Library to use the wi-fi to plan their family's next move with the outage. During that time, her husband stayed home from his small business to watch their children, whose school was closed, in their house without power.
"I think we'll be able to get through it. It already stressful having you know two kids and one of my sons does have a disability but it's like...we'll get through it," O'Neal said.
O'Neal told CBS13 that she and her husband searched within a 200-mile radius to find a generator for the home once they found out the outage was happening. She's now worried about how long spotty cell reception will last in case of an emergency or when the school district tells her family that her kids can go back to class.
"We were told that we would be notified 8 p.m. tonight if the schools are going to be reopened, but how are they going to get ahold of us," O'Neal said.
O'Neal said their family had to spend $1,000 on the generator. She said that she's grateful they had the money to purchase it. But, she told CBS13 that money could've been useful to have in the future.
