PG&E Restorations Begin In Some Areas; More Equipment Inspections To Begin Thursday Afternoon
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — Approximately 510,000 customers across Northern California are still without electricity, PG&E announced that calmer wind conditions in some affected areas will allow safety inspections to begin Thursday afternoon to determine if they can move forward with more restorations.
As of Thursday evening, approximately 228,000 customers had power restored following Wednesday's start of the scheduled public safety power shutoffs.
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PG&E said the total number of transmission and distribution lines they will need to inspect before full restoration equals 27,225 miles, nearly three thousand more miles than the distance at the Earth's equator — 24,901 miles.
Inspections will begin in areas that have been given a "weather all clear," the utility said. PG&E said a "weather all clear" refers to the passing of extreme weather conditions. Areas of Sonoma, Tuolumne, Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Mariposa, Merced, Monterey, Placer, San Joaquin, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Stanislaus and El Dorado counties have already been cleared for inspections.
As of 6 a.m. Thursday morning, the utility said that parts of Sonoma County and Contra Costa County saw peak wind gusts of 77 miles per hour and 75 miles per hour. PG&E said they have received reports of damaged equipment in these areas.
Dangerous weather conditions are expected to continue in parts of the Sierra Foothills and Bay Area through midday Thursday. PG&E said similar conditions will continue in Kern County, the site of phase three of the shutoffs expected to affect approximately 4,000 customers, through midday Friday.
