Could be lights out for some of us Californians depending on the wind speed?

[theking]

Lights out? PG&E plans to shut off power for more than 800K customers in California to reduce wildfire risk



More than 800,000 subscribers in California will be left in the dark for days as the state's leading utility shuts off power to parts of 34 counties to reduce the risk of wildfires in dry and windy conditions.

Pacific Gas and Electric said blackouts across parts of northern, central and coastal California would start early Wednesday morning shortly after midnight in the largest preventive outage in state history.

Because every customer account could represent service to multiple residents or employees in a business, the number of people affected by the outages could be in the millions.

With winds between 40 mph and 70 mph expected Wednesday and Thursday, PG&E is trying to avoid downed power lines or contact with vegetation setting off fires. Some of California’s most destructive blazes in recent years were started by PG&E power lines.

Nearly all nine counties in the San Francisco Bay Area could be subjected to the shutdowns, the only exception being the city and county of San Francisco.

In addition, Southern California Edison said more than 100,000 customers could face power cuts in eight counties it serves, including more than 30,000 in Los Angeles County.

Class-action lawsuit: Was California wildfire caused by Pacific Gas & Electric?

Michael Lewis, senior vice president of PG&E’s electric operations, said it could take “several days to fully restore power after the weather passes and safety inspections are completed.”

The beleaguered utility, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this year after a series of wildfires left it with billions of dollars in liabilities, further incurred its customers' wrath when its website crashed amid heavy traffic, preventing subscribers from finding information about the blackouts.

“This is shaping up to be one of the most severe dry wind events we’ve seen in our territory in recent years," PG&E said in a statement. "We want our customers to be prepared for an extended outage that may last several days."

AccuWeather noted that while some Santa Ana wind events usher in hot and arid air, the winds affecting most of California this week should bring in somewhat cooler air that could ease the threat of a major wildfire outbreak.

"However, the combination of dry air, dry brush and gusty winds will significantly raise the chance of wildfire ignition," AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski said.

PG&E's meteorological and operations teams were monitoring the "evolving situation" and were working with state and local agencies to prepare the public, Lewis said.

He warned that customers may be affected by a power shutoff even if they are not experiencing extreme weather conditions in their specific location because of the way power lines work in unison across cities, counties and regions.

Transportation officials also prepared for a possible full closure of the San Francisco Bay Area's Caldecott Tunnel, which more than 160,000 commuters use daily, because of the shutoff. While CalTrans is working with PG&E to provide emergency power to the tunnel, the agency said it may close as soon as Tuesday evening and remain blocked for up to five days. The Tom Lantos Tunnel in Pacifica may also be temporarily closed to traffic, CalTrans said.

Residents of the Golden State lined up at gas stations and headed to stores to buy generators, flashlights, batteries and non-perishable food.

Jennifer Siemens, whose home burnt down in a devastating fire in the Northern California town of Paradise that was blamed on PG&E transmission lines, said she's now renting in nearby Oroville and is preparing for her third power shutdown in a month.

Siemens said the outages scare her children, who were traumatized during the massive Paradise blaze, and also affect the family's cleaning business.

“What’s wrong with the power lines that they have to do this so much?” asked Siemens. “We don’t want any more fires, obviously, but I feel like they are going a little overboard.”

PG&E ordered a much smaller power cutoff in June involving thousands of customers in the Northern California counties of Napa, Solano and Yolo.

The utility has drawn blame for igniting several wildfires caused by downed power lines that killed dozens and destroyed thousands of homes. In June, PG&E agreed to pay $1 billion in damages to local governments.

More than half the settlement was related to the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and destroyed more than 13,000 homes while nearly wiping out Paradise.

[Dok_Champa]

Latest updates says more than 1 Million customers w/out power...

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/10/09/california-pge-power-outage-affect-millions-prevent-wildfire/3916848002/

[theking]

Not good for these guys especially the ones that owns $100k Tesla and a lot of them are in the Bay Area:

Electric-Car Owners Hard Hit by Massive California Power Shutdown

Nearly a million Californians are now without power as the electric company deliberately shut it off this week, fearing high winds would spark wildfire.
The affected area in Northern California surrounds Fremont, home of Tesla, and a great many electric-car owners who can't charge their vehicles as usual.
Tesla's Elon Musk is swapping in battery Powerpacks and solar power for Superchargers in the region as fast as he can get permits, he claims on Twitter.
Nature built California to burn. And there's only so much Elon Musk, Pacific Gas & Electric, or anyone else can do to diminish that.

"All Tesla Supercharger stations in regions affected by California power outages will have Tesla Powerpacks within next few weeks," Elon Musk tweeted this morning in response to PG&E's shutoff of power to several California regions in order to minimize the risk of wildfire from high winds. "Just waiting on permits."

[Dok_Champa]

I'm also thinking about those business owners, retails, etc..  Did they have emergency generators?  I can see losses by the billions..