- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On
Nearly 1,000 Lake County residents could be impacted by potential power shutoff
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it is anticipating that it may shut off power to 50,000 customers in portions of 19 counties starting Wednesday night due to another incoming wind event, with nearly 1,000 Lake County customers among those anticipated to be impacted.
The company said it began notifying customers on Monday of the public safety power shutoff, which could take place as early as Wednesday evening.
PG&E said that while there is still uncertainty regarding the strength and timing of this weather wind event, it’s shutoff is forecast to target approximately 50,414 customers in portions of 19 counties, including Alameda, Butte, Colusa, Contra Costa, Glenn, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Napa, Plumas, Santa Clara, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Tehama, Trinity, Yolo and Yuba. A small number of customers in two tribal communities may also be affected.
In Lake County, 963 customers – 69 of them in the Medical Baseline program – are in the proposed outage area. Lake’s customers appear to be primarily located in the Clearlake Oaks, Cobb, Lower Lake and Middletown areas, based on PG&E mapping.
If the shutoff goes forward, power to the impacted Lake County residents is expected to be turned off between 2 and 6 a.m. Thursday, with power to be restored by 10 p.m. Friday once power equipment is inspected for damage and cleared for reenergizing.
In Lake’s neighboring counties, the following numbers are reported for impacted customers: Colusa, 565 customers, 31 Medical Baseline customers; Glenn, 377 customers, 18 Medical Baseline customers; Napa, 2,032 customers, 82 Medical Baseline customers; Sonoma, 626 customers,18 Medical Baseline customers; and Yolo, 11 customers, 0 Medical Baseline customers.
PG&E said, in the event the shutoff goes forward, it will open a community resource center at the Clearlake Senior Center, 3245 Bowers Ave. in Clearlake.
The community resource center will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. and will offer snacks and water, air-conditioning/heating, device charging, ice, ADA-accessible restroom and washing station, seating, small medical device charging and Wi-Fi.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the center will follow important health and safety protocols including:
– Facial coverings and maintaining a physical distance of at least 6 feet from those who are not part of the same household will be required.
– Temperature checks will be administered before entering centers that are located indoors.
– Center staff will be trained in COVID-19 precautions and will regularly sanitize surfaces and use Plexiglass barriers at check-in.
– All centers will follow county and state requirements regarding COVID-19, including limits on the number of customers permitted indoors at any time.
For more information on the potential outage, visit the PG&E website.
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