LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – With the National Weather Service issuing a red flag warning for a large portion of Northern California, Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has expanded the scope of an already massive planned public safety power shutoff that now includes 34 of California’s 58 counties, with the time of the outage also moved up by several hours.
The National Weather Service’s red flag warning will be in effect from 5 a.m. Wednesday to 5 p.m. Thursday. It includes Lake and many counties from Humboldt and Shasta in the north and extending south to the Bay Area.
Forecasters are warning of north to northeast winds of between 20 and 30 miles per hour, with gusts up to 50 miles per hour.
A previously issued wind advisory also remains in effect from 6 a.m. Wednesday through noon on Thursday, the National Weather Service said.
In response, on Tuesday, PG&E said it has added portions of Humboldt and Marin counties to the planned outage area, which covers much of Northern California, the Bay Area and portions of Central California.
More than 800,000 customers are expected to be impacted by the shutoff, PG&E said.
Originally, the shutoff was expected to begin at about 4 a.m. Wednesday.
However, Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin told Lake County News on Tuesday afternoon that it’s now expected to begin at 12 a.m. Wednesday.
Lake County News called PG&E’s media line for an update and comment on the situation but did not get an immediate reply. The company’s Web site also appeared to be timing out due to traffic issues.
Outage maps the utility published late Monday night had shown parts of Kelseyville and Hidden Valley Lake being out of the planned outage area. That also changed on Tuesday.
“They expanded the scope of the impact to customers,” said Martin, noting that now the areas in Hidden Valley Lake and Kelseyville that previously had appeared to be clear are included in the shutoff area in Lake County.
“Every populated area of the county is going to be hit,” Martin said.
Lakeport Police Chief Brad Rasmussen said PG&E has confirmed as of Tuesday afternoon that the shutoff for the city of Lakeport also will start around midnight.
He said the entire city is expected to be impacted.
However, city facilities, the police station and city hall will be open and operational. Rasmussen said the police department will have increased staffing on during the nighttime hours to patrol neighborhoods and business districts.
In addition, Lakeport Public Works will have nighttime staffing to monitor water and sewer infrastructure which the city anticipates will remain fully operational, Rasmussen said.
Likewise, in the city of Clearlake, City Manager Alan Flora said the city intends to maintain normal operations at City Hall, including having its council meeting on Thursday evening.
Flora recently has reported to the council that backup generators and additional fuel tanks were in place to allow the city to continue operations during the shutoff.
Regarding county operations, Matthew Rothstein of the County Administrative Office said the courthouse – which has new generators thanks to a recent decision by the Board of Supervisors – is anticipated to remain open.
Krista LeVier, Lake County Superior Court executive officer, said that because of the generator the county purchased for the building, the courts – located on the fourth floor – will be operational.
“All court calendars, public counters and phones should remain open as scheduled,” she said.
However, the Clearlake courthouse does not have generator power and would need to be closed if in fact the shutoff impacts that facility, LeVier said.
“In the event of a power outage causing the closure of our Clearlake courthouse, we will have a drop box available for court filings and we will accept filings at the Lakeport courthouse during the outage,” she explained.
The widespread impacts will include education. The county’s schools have confirmed they will be closed during the outage, with most not having the generator capacity to keep operations going.
One of the key concerns is how long the shutoff could last, given the large impact area.
Rasmussen said PG&E has reported that it expects to start turning power back on Friday morning, but it could take up to five days for some people to have power again.
In neighboring Sonoma County, officials said they are preparing for an extended shutoff, with 262,000 residents expected to be impacted.
Sonoma County officials said PG&E has reported that it expects to begin to restore power there on Thursday at about noon, but the process could be delayed, especially if there is wind-related damage to PG&E’s system.
The county of Sonoma and city of Santa Rosa are advocating for a gubernatorial emergency proclamation in preparation for the consequences of the shutoff. Both agencies proclaimed a state of local emergency on Monday after being notified of the possibility of the now confirmed deenergization event by PG&E.
PG&E will open a community resource center for Lake County at the Clearlake Senior Center at 3245 Bowers Ave in Clearlake. It will be open on Wednesday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Martin said all of the impacted counties are only getting one resource center each because PG&E is tapped out on vendors to help run the centers.
“Every community is wanting more than one but every county is getting only one,” he said.
Martin added, “It’s going to impact everybody. I hope people are prepared.”
For additional information
City of Clearlake
https://www.clearlake.ca.us/356/Public-Safety-Power-Shutoff
County of Lake
http://www.lakecountyca.gov/Residents/Emergencies/PSPS.htm
City of Lakeport
https://www.cityoflakeport.com/public_safety_power_shutoff.php
PG&E
To learn more about a PG&E’s power shutoff, visit www.PGE.com/weather or www.pge.com/psps , or call PG&E’s 24-hour power outage information center at 1-800-743-5002.
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Red flag warning issued for region; PG&E expands planned power shutoff area, moves up start time
- Elizabeth Larson
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